My first was Wild World and I put a lot of time into it. Wild World has a lot of charm and character (like the Gamecube game) and I honestly like it more than City Folk, but it's clear New Leaf is a much more polished game with a lot more to do. New Horizons is great and has a real solid core, but I'm waiting for those updates before deciding if it beats New Leaf long term. It very much could.
I'd give up literally every bonus feature for decent online and basic features. It's cheap, but that doesn't matter to me when I expect basic stuff that isn't there. I am buying this while pinching my nose to play online games and every online game is a mess.
Mario Maker 2, Smash Bros, Splatoon 2, even Animal Crossing New Horizons, they keep releasing these great multiplayer games that have awful internet experiences.
Grammatically, "I'm not seeing the appeal of this game" and "This game has no appeal" are lightyears apart.
I | am seeing
Game | has
The subject of the first sentence is I. The subject of the second sentence is game. That means the first sentence's predicate is saying something about the speaker, Not_Soos, while the hypothetical second sentence is saying something about the game.
It's the difference between describing one's own personal experience with something that has an objective existence and making a claim about that thing's objective existence. That's a big difference. In English, we usually communicate personal perception either by using a 1st person subject ("I am not interested in this game") or by using a 1st person pronoun as indirect object ("This game is not interesting to me.")
Not_Soos said he isn't interested in the game and defended that opinion with several reasons. Rather than discuss those reasons, BAN rudely invented a strawman position that Not_Soos wants the game cancelled. Sanderev followed with a non sequitur about marketing and another non sequitur about the game not having to be a return to form. Since only one of these three competitors is reading what their opponent is actually saying, they win by default. Win what? An internet comment, apparently.
On a more on topic note, I wondered when watching this what game mechanic role these play, if any. The folded thing talks about him fighting something like he's experiencing something in the helmet: is there a level in there or something? That would be fun.
@westman98 Maybe, but I think if Nintendo pushed the envelope and had good game mechanics, a number of people would appreciate not TTYD2. Maybe that's optimistic of me (not a quality usually attributed to me), but a lot of people appreciate things about Super Paper Mario and that really isn't TTYD2.
Personally, speaking as myself, after 2 games which had some noticeable game design flaws (For instance, why would they put so much time and effort into battles and then punish players for playing the battles? It wastes resources without getting a meaningful reward. That's RPG design 101.), I would appreciate it if the Big N could prove they get what makes the first two/three games so beloved before they innovate. I think I see that sentiment with a number of Nintendo properties right now. (Mario Party comes to mind: if they showed that they got why people like say, Mario Party 2 and 3 and found those games fun, I'd trust them to innovate, but by this point, I'm going to assume a new Mario Party game replaces the basics with worse mechanics until I see otherwise. But if they do release a good one that's different, I'll enjoy it.)
But if they release something that's mechanically well-designed and fun to play, I'll personally play it and enjoy it even if it's different. I have no love for TTYD so overwhelming that I cannot enjoy an innovative take, but I also suspect occasionally that someone at Nintendo doesn't get why TTYD was fun and that kind of attitude rarely makes a good sequel.
I mean, there are some omissions to the collection I'd like them to correct soonish (especially some of the 1st party ones on the SNES mini that aren't on SNES online), but I can't complain - I've wanted to try Panel de Pon, and Wild Guns sounds fun.
@RazorThin Mainly because Sticker Star papercut a lot of us so dang deep: it had a lot of really sketchy gameplay elements (its battle system had some major game design problems with rewarding the player for avoiding it and the sticker mechanic as it was implemented forced loads of perpetual backtracking as two of many examples), paper thin puzzle design (buy a sticker, put it in the right spot, watch a cutscene) and it erased all the character and plot. Besides its graphics, it was an amateur effort. And since the last 3 games before it were so good, a lot of us weren't expecting it and got burned bad.
Color Splash doesn't exactly deserve the fan reaction, except it sort of does. I don't care about change in the series but I do care about charm and I do care about game design. Color Splash brought back charm and fixed some of the poorly designed mechanics. But it latched onto some less fun design choices from Sticker Star that most of the fans (still washing the salt out of their numerous Sticker Star caused wounds) were very unhappy to see: the battle system still got rid of exp points without a system in place that was as effective at rewarding the player for battles (the paint system is better than nothing, but once you get enough paint, running is better than fighting). The unnamed Toads are more charming, more funny, but it wouldn't have been hard to write characters instead of unnamed identical NPCs. And while the Koopalings are written characters, so they probably don't deserve the hate, it gave off generic New Super Mario Bros vibes compared to the unique, personality filled bosses of the first 3 games. The main reason people hate it when it probably deserves to be remembered as good-but-not-great is because Nintendo showed they still liked some of the less great ideas from Sticker Star. Also nobody bought the Wii U.
So some people are probably being toxic because this is the internet, but after a hard miss and an okay but flawed entry, I do think people are justified in hoping this new game is something different and in not trusting the game will be good until they see more. A reasonable position as a consumer.
Shoutouts to Stephen and Mal though. Funny people - I've been watching for years. Glitch videos or guides are about 0.00001 percent of what Stephen does (although he did figure out how the focus on the New Horizons camera works on Twitter). His LPs of Chulip, Mario Kart, Twilight Princess, and Mario Sunshine with Mal are personal favorites. He does a daily LP episode, a daily Mario Maker level on weekdays using a community ranking site that's way better than Mario Maker's search tools for finding good levels (that series is past episode 1000), a weekly impression of the first half hour or so of a game, a weekly gaming stream, a breakfast talk stream twice a week, a daily life vlog that's been going for over a decade, and Mal runs a channel called MalMakes where she paints video game art in a Bob Ross style format with relaxing music and commentary. Most recent addition is an Animal Crossing fruit still-life. And between the work they put into their Extra Life stream and the Runaway Guys Colosseum stream, they raise a lot for charities.
The endless a mashing to get bell vouchers is admittedly, really annoying after about the 10th voucher, going through all the text and the slow printing animation for each one. I admit thinking to myself that a turbo controller would be nice.
I'd say I'm surprised the process is so slow when that's 1 of 2 things to spend Nook Miles on. I don't say that cynically: they keep giving me Nook Miles and they clearly want me to spend them on bell vouchers and Nook Miles tickets, since there's not a daily selection of other stuff and they clearly expect you to get everything you want pretty quickly. But it's Nintendo - having quality of life improvements is the surprise, not their absence.
@Pip_Pipston I can think of a lot of novels which have poor pacing but great writing. There can be a lot of really well written characters and scenes, but the author isn't great at judging which scenes need to be in the story (or simply disagrees with the reader). To a point, a reader will usually overlook it if the rest is good.
An RPG with little to no economic motivation for the player to engage in battles is a problem if battles are a main part of the content. If the battling is where a lot of the content made is, but there's an economic motivation for the player to avoid it, then if what's left isn't good, you're encouraging the player to skip the game. Sticker Star was a problem because it encouraged skipping battles and didn't have satisfying story, puzzles, or gameplay. All that was left was the graphics. This game at least looks like it has a story and characters, but if the gameplay discourages the player from fighting battles and the platforming is average, I'm worried about what's left?
The opposite problem from this or Sticker Star is most 80s and 90s menu based RPGs, where the random battles were often snoozefests (you're not usually going to use cool abilities against giant bug number 2095, so random encounters often are about spamming fight), but provide so much reward to the player that beating the game without grinding them is impossible. The balance, of course, is giving a good enough reward for battles and also making them fun.
Another area where Nintendo thinking they know better than the rest of the industry only works when they also offer the basic features a consumer expects. Everyone online is familiar with creating a username because we've been doing it our whole lives. Nintendo wifi has also been a nightmare since I got a DS at 11 because playing with a friend involves these nonsense friend codes (and back in the DS days, getting your friend to convince their parents to change their router to WPA security so we could play Mario Kart). These codes confused kids and parents and they were and are an objectively worse experience than usernames, which anyone with an email knows how to use.
And it wouldn't be quite as big of a deal if the name "Nintendo" hasn't so consistently been synonymous with "poor quality online." It's just fitting that the first step to playing with friends is an arbitrarily missing feature that makes everything more frustrating when that phrase defines their online experiences since the DS.
For what it's worth, if Nintendo put half the effort and quality they do into quality single player or local multiplayer games into their online, they'd be the best in the business at it. I don't hate Nintendo at all, but especially if they're releasing online multiplayer games, they should care some about the quality of their product.
Nintendo trailer zooms in to reveal an F-Zero racer...
On a board. F-Zero Party! Falcon and Friends compete to finish the board game race while wacky events and minigames happen! But make sure to manage your fuel, or it's game over! F-Zero Party! Out Holiday 2020!
1: Don't default to the control options nobody wants to use when playing local multiplayer. It's like a bowling alley defaulting to bumpers on.
2. R.O.B. returns
3. No blue shells. What an awful powerup from a design perspective. The stated purpose is to help players at the back of the pack. The bullet bill does that; the blue shell only helps the people at the front of the pack and is only a frustration in single player. What an awful mechanic.
That's all I can think of to nitpick, so the game must be pretty good.
At some point, it's a matter of Nintendo's reputation for quality. They don't have to have good netcode to make money; we'll all buy the game and the online service anyway. But Nintendo is repeatedly making it clear that they don't care about offering the best or even good online service. Over and over, they release slow, laggy online multiplayer modes. Smash Ultimate is the worst offender in my book simply because better netcode systems have existed since 2008 and Nintendo is choosing to use delay based netcode systems because they don't have to do better.
It's sad because they'll put shocking levels of effort into making a game the best it can be and then purposefully botch the online out of what has to be laziness or apathy.
Don't mind Nintendo Life using Animal Crossing controversy for clicks, but this is a little sketchy, using two Youtube friends goofing around on Twitter out of context for a clickbait article. I follow Alpharad on Twitter - this is hilariously out of context to suggest there's any controversy here. Both of them can take it, but I'm also not sure why you think Alpharad or Family Jules deserve this, unless the journalist is also part of the bit.
Deemo has a killer soundtrack. Lots of songs, lots of bangers. And the rhythm game works well in handheld. Not like, 10/10 GOTY stuff, but I've kept going back to it over and over.
I was amused enough by the whole hullabaloo to write an ironically deep poem over a lunch break a few days ago about the time travel debate, with a boy becoming a god and facing the wrath of the masses only to see all and destroy his world prematurely. I'd post it here for the lols, except it would break the no foreign language rule.
The gist of the situation as I see it is that the anti-time travelers are right in that Animal Crossing often grows boring after you have no goals left and time travelers will probably see everything the game has to offer quickly and grow bored sooner than a non time traveler. That's part of why I don't time travel.
But the pro time travelers are right to say "so what?". Why is that anyone else's business if someone else plays a video game "wrong?" Who cares if some internet stranger grows bored of a game I like? Who cares if their island is nicer than mine? From where I'm sitting, none of that is worth even a second of my anger, none of that is worth any part of my peace of mind, none of that is even really any of my business.
If their cheating affects my experience in any way, it's because I let it: I either let it make me jealous or let it make me angry. Both of those are completely and utterly my fault. Not the time traveler's.
@burninmylight I've beaten the Wii version and been slowly working through the Switch version. The Wii pointer was quick and snappy, but apt to freak out and didn't like making straight lines in my experience. It worked though.
The Switch gives you a choice between using the right stick or the joycon pointer. Since so few games use the joycon as a pointer, that will feel weird at first, but it works and I think is a little more accurate than the wii. Either works in my opinion. I like the pointer better, but since I usually play Switch in handheld mode, I often use the stick.
Okami is well worth a play for fans of GameCube/Wii era 3D Zeldas. The graphics are uniquely impressive and the gameplay is comparable to Twilight Princess in some ways, but knocks that game's overworld into the mud and its dungeons do a much better job than Zelda usually does at consistently using dungeon items throughout the game in combination with each other, while Zelda tends to focus mostly on the item of that dungeon. If you want a game that takes the 3D Zelda formula and packs it to the brim with aesthetic and content, it's worth every penny.
That isn't to say I don't have complaints: Issun makes Navi look like she's taken a vow of silence and the paint mechanic can confuse some commands for others. But it's overall a uniquely stylish experience.
Nor is memento mori particularly morbid by itself. It's just the truth. That doesn't have to make one morbid.
Miyamoto retires. The Paper Mario franchise soars to unforeseen heights. Under the inspiration and soul moving narrative of the now unrepressed Paper Mario works, humanity enters a new golden age. In a hundred years of peace, non-Paper Mario is considered a niche spinoff series.
I kid, I kid. Miyamoto is a genius and every time he talks about his design process, it's fascinating.
People have been doing this kind of nonsense for as long as I can remember: I was a smart kid and never fell for them, but I played Neopets and Club Penguin and there were a bajillion "free neopoints" websites out there. I'd recognize these as scams in a heartbeat, but a kid or an adult who isn't computer savvy might not.
@Kalmaro I wouldn't say a universal standard is necessary for agreement. In a situation like this where people disagree about moral action because they have different premises, there could be a number of outcomes, including neither persuading the other, one persuading the other within the other's moral framework, or one persuading the other by challenging the other's premises.
Let's lock Bob the Deontologist and Joe the Utilitarian in a room until they agree about whether pirating amiibo figures is moral or immoral. If Bob says, "It's immoral because stealing is wrong!", his argument won't persuade Joe because Joe thinks stealing can be right. Bob, if he knows what Joe does think, could instead persuade Joe somehow that pirating amiibo figures actually hurts people and causes suffering. That would persuade Joe that according to his own beliefs, pirating the amiibo is wrong. Now the two both are in agreement that pirating amiibo is wrong, but without sharing the same premises. For all intents and purposes, a harmony between the two.
(Ignoring of course that they share a common idea that morality exists and that actions can be right or wrong, so there is a common belief there)
This seems to boil down to deontology versus utilitarianism again, or whether actions are moral/immoral regardless of their consequences or because of their consequences.
The author is making a utilitarian argument: this isn't immoral because nobody is losing money.
The comments are largely making a deontological argument: One has a moral duty to keep reasonable laws and a moral duty not to steal, so this is immoral.
Which means neither side will find the other's reasoning convincing by itself because both have different ways to decide whether something is moral.
Brief analysis: New Leaf's Bunny Day wasn't my favorite holiday in NL, but it was fun and despite being similar to NH Bunny Day, it was more enjoyable. The furniture wasn't great, but the holiday furniture sets usually weren't my favorites.
NH Bunny Day has a similar activity to NL Bunny Day. In both, eggs are hidden that you find by doing normal AC activities like fishing, breaking rocks, etc. Both use preexisting activities instead of introducing a new one, which means the novelty is likely to wear off sooner than a new activity. That's not bad, but something a developer should remember.
What you do with the eggs is different. In NL, you eat the eggs and some give you prize tickets, which you trade in for furniture. In NH, you collect recipes for furniture and craft them using eggs. Either way, you collect eggs and exchange them for furniture, so a similar event.
The main difference is the amount of time. NL is one day, NH is 12 days. This probably is because 1. The crafting process requires more eggs than NL's prize tickets, and 2. People who aren't able to play much on Easter are able to participate and get some items. But the con is that the novelty wears off quick since the activity doesn't take 2 weeks to do, even for people who want multiples. NL's Bunny Day doesn't have that problem because you collect the eggs across one day.
A Solution: give out the recipes across early April to build hype, cut the egg collection down to a weekend, and cut the crafting requirements for some items in half so it can easily be accomplished in a weekend.
I'm not like, angry about this, because it's just an event in a video game and I made a lot of bells from it, but the Bunny Day activities on Bunny Day lasted about 2 minutes for me. I'd already collected everything without going out of my way and had a bunch of extra eggs, so I crafted the two new recipes and was done. From a design perspective, I get the motivation for spreading the activity out so that players who are busy on the holiday itself can still play the content. But this was probably a bit extreme.
Craft a bunch of stuff with the extra eggs for some good money: I haven't done the math to figure out the most ideal items to sell, but the arch and wobbling toys are worth a lot, so I made as many of those as possible, then crafted whatever I could with the rest.
Also, if this is like past AC games, a full set of holiday furniture usually is an easy way to get a full set bonus from the Happy Home Academy. The holiday furniture sets usually haven't been my favorites in previous AC games, but if you want the HHA score without having to collect other furniture sets, that's one trick.
@Crockin To be fair, the content Nintendo has promised is holiday events. It makes sense for them to add other kinds of content too and I'm guessing it will happen, but I'm not going to expect it until Nintendo says they are adding other content.
There's not really a point - it appeals to the part of the human mind that enjoys gardening. When you garden, you take a plot of land that isn't being used, clear it, and plant something. You habitually check it, water it, care for it, and watch it grow. And eventually, you start to see little rewards here and there.
You could argue that Animal Crossing is a real time collectathon, but I think that ignores that the core of the gameplay is building habits that over time complete long term goals and slowly transform a flat field into a garden full of stuff you built and plants you grew.
And carving out a half hour to build a relaxing habit isn't the worst thing a person can do for their well-being.
@muscpt For me, it works just like the museum: I select everything I want to sell with A, there's a circle around the items I select, then I press + to sell all the selected items at once. Is selling items to Timmy and Tommy working differently for you?
I'm hoping more mid to late game content is added in updates. The core Animal Crossing gameplay is the best it's ever been. But compared to New Leaf, there's a lot fewer daily things to do, a lot fewer minigames, a lot fewer late game projects, a lot fewer shops, fewer traveling villagers, and less to do in multiplayer. I'm not complaining exactly: I'm still early on after all. But I am hoping they add more side content and long term projects so it's still fun in a year: I've just been playing the game normally and I made it through the get 3 stars quest today.
I'd like to see a cafe. I'd like to see a late game shop or two, like a Gracie Grace shop. I'd like to see more late game things to spend Nook Miles on, maybe mini games or the Nintendo furniture. But I'm not making a checklist of things I need to see: the thing I want is side content and projects like New Leaf had that help add longevity to the game, whether that's returning ideas or new ones. New Leaf is still a game I can pull up years later and find content I haven't seen. I'd like New Horizons updates to make the game that and more.
The answer to just about every "why" question on this thread or on any article of this nature is that doing weird things for an audience is and has long been entertainment and entertainment can be provided in exchange for resources and income.
This man plays a video game in a weird way, that gets people who find that interesting or funny to watch him play the video game in a weird way, companies pay YouTube money to put advertisements up along with the funny video game man and YouTube gives some of that money to the funny video game man. Funny video game man can exchange that money for desired goods and resources.
Biggest question: will you be able to hear the new music tracks under the literally constant screaming unlike in the original? Just a simple option to turn off combat voice clips or even to lower their volume? Because the Wii version is just constantly yelling move names and catch phrases, like you can't fight an ant without the characters wanting it to be a pro wrestling match... Good game, but it's a shame the volume has to be turned down for it to be a good game because the music is great when you can hear it.
I'm worried because XC2 just doubled down on the constant screaming of catchphrases by having 6 constantly screaming characters - the audio in that game borders on hilarious.
Like, it's okay for people who share a switch to not be happy that Nintendo isn't letting them play the game in a way that makes sense. It's okay for them to not be happy. Someone not being happy about something that doesn't bother you much doesn't mean they're whining. It might even be a chance to try empathizing with someone else who has different priorities and to think about why they feel and think the way they do.
Having one island a system is an awful design choice. The game being made by Nintendo doesn't cancel that. The game being fun doesn't change that. They easily, easily, easily could have given an option that lets people play in single player instead of forcing multiplayer. The game is full of design decisions that make sharing an island a huge pain in the rear. I'm glad I don't have to. And it's okay to acknowledge that. It's a product for sale, not a gift.
But a comments section on a Nintendo site isn't a great place to convince people that Nintendo purposefully made a bad design decision. Guess that's what Metacritic is for.
Goodness, some people think it's a reasonable statement to say that if you don't want to share an island and to have to manage crafting resources across siblings, you should pay hundreds of dollars each for each parent and sibling to have their own switch. For a problem which every other game has solved already. I'm glad some are in such a good financial situation, but not glad that they're sheltered from the rest of the world so as to not be able to imagine another reality.
It's a greedy cash grab, by consequence if not by purpose. The game is good, but there's no excuse for this. And it is very clear that the game isn't supposed to be played like that: only the player who gets on first gets the rocks or the wood from the trees. There's enough resources on an island where a single player character can find them, but has to look sometimes for things like iron and wood. It would be frustrating to split those resources in a family that gets along and honestly, I'm lucky in that regard (though I live out of state now), but lots of people don't.
So there's at least one non-Nintendo publisher involved. Not surprising given fighter pass 1 had a focus on third party characters, but pretty cool.
There are so many characters in Smash that it's easy to try a new character for a week and have it feel as brand new as a DLC character, so if there's a delay, I'll still enjoy Smash. I've been trying out Villager online - he's not objectively good in this game, I think but he has so many projectile based mind games
Nintendogs doesn't deserve a perfect score. It's good, best pet sim until Nintendogs + Cats but the voice commands often don't work and the content is often very limited. Great game, but some clear reasons to knock points. New Leaf deserves a perfect score over Nintendogs.
Skyward Sword is beautiful and the combat is fun but how do you say it's perfect when it spends half of the game slowing you down to spend hours doing monotonous busywork like swimming through a lake finding tadpoles? That game doesn't care whether you're having fun. Ever. There is fun, but the game doesn't care either way if you're having fun. It'll be throwing great puzzles and boss fights at you and then decide you need to stop for an hour and contemplate the whims of fortune by pointing the wii remote at stuff and listening to beeps for an hour. And those pineapple boss fights are the glitchiest thing I've played in a 1st Party Nintendo game besides the swarming enemies mechanic in Pikmin 1. It is I think the least replayable Zelda game by far.
Kid Icarus is also beautiful and funny and packed with fun content, but it isn't built for the hardware: it demands that one cramp one's left hand and demands quickly flicking the circle pad left in a way that usually breaks it. And it's difficult to replay from scratch because I get used to having good weapons instead of awful ones and the grind while I get them again is awful.
Speaking as a lifelong Animal Crossing fan, I love the series and it's arguably my favorite series to play, but its stubborn repetition of the same content over decades and its stubborn clinging to bad design choices out of tradition mean I'm not sure there's a game in the series I'd give a perfect score to. Even New Leaf has an unbalanced economy, obnoxious inventory management, overly harsh punishments for not playing, too much repetition of NPC dialogue, and otherwise great town customization marred by the inability to move rocks, or randomly placed buildings. I'd give New Leaf a 38 out of 40: a point off for the NPCs being somewhat bland and a point off for half the game being wrestling with the inventory. Still amazing in almost every other way. If NH is better than New Leaf, it doesn't have to be perfect to be a game I'll love for years.
@Heavyarms55 I don't know; if anyone could pull off the Stardew Valley plan for rural economic rejuvenation of "punch Walmart in the face and wear shades," it's probably Regginator Fis-a-Mech.
Comments 1,107
Re: Animal Crossing Director Wants To Make New Horizons "The Best Game Possible"
My first was Wild World and I put a lot of time into it. Wild World has a lot of charm and character (like the Gamecube game) and I honestly like it more than City Folk, but it's clear New Leaf is a much more polished game with a lot more to do. New Horizons is great and has a real solid core, but I'm waiting for those updates before deciding if it beats New Leaf long term. It very much could.
Re: Nintendo Says It Will Continue To Increase The Appeal Of The Switch Online Service
I'd give up literally every bonus feature for decent online and basic features. It's cheap, but that doesn't matter to me when I expect basic stuff that isn't there. I am buying this while pinching my nose to play online games and every online game is a mess.
Mario Maker 2, Smash Bros, Splatoon 2, even Animal Crossing New Horizons, they keep releasing these great multiplayer games that have awful internet experiences.
Re: Random: What's Up With That Metroid Reference In The Paper Mario Trailer?
Grammatically, "I'm not seeing the appeal of this game" and "This game has no appeal" are lightyears apart.
I | am seeing
Game | has
The subject of the first sentence is I. The subject of the second sentence is game. That means the first sentence's predicate is saying something about the speaker, Not_Soos, while the hypothetical second sentence is saying something about the game.
It's the difference between describing one's own personal experience with something that has an objective existence and making a claim about that thing's objective existence. That's a big difference. In English, we usually communicate personal perception either by using a 1st person subject ("I am not interested in this game") or by using a 1st person pronoun as indirect object ("This game is not interesting to me.")
Re: Random: What's Up With That Metroid Reference In The Paper Mario Trailer?
Not_Soos said he isn't interested in the game and defended that opinion with several reasons. Rather than discuss those reasons, BAN rudely invented a strawman position that Not_Soos wants the game cancelled. Sanderev followed with a non sequitur about marketing and another non sequitur about the game not having to be a return to form. Since only one of these three competitors is reading what their opponent is actually saying, they win by default. Win what? An internet comment, apparently.
On a more on topic note, I wondered when watching this what game mechanic role these play, if any. The folded thing talks about him fighting something like he's experiencing something in the helmet: is there a level in there or something? That would be fun.
Re: Gallery: Paper Mario: The Origami King - 20 Gorgeous Screenshots And Box Art Revealed
@westman98 Maybe, but I think if Nintendo pushed the envelope and had good game mechanics, a number of people would appreciate not TTYD2. Maybe that's optimistic of me (not a quality usually attributed to me), but a lot of people appreciate things about Super Paper Mario and that really isn't TTYD2.
Personally, speaking as myself, after 2 games which had some noticeable game design flaws (For instance, why would they put so much time and effort into battles and then punish players for playing the battles? It wastes resources without getting a meaningful reward. That's RPG design 101.), I would appreciate it if the Big N could prove they get what makes the first two/three games so beloved before they innovate. I think I see that sentiment with a number of Nintendo properties right now. (Mario Party comes to mind: if they showed that they got why people like say, Mario Party 2 and 3 and found those games fun, I'd trust them to innovate, but by this point, I'm going to assume a new Mario Party game replaces the basics with worse mechanics until I see otherwise. But if they do release a good one that's different, I'll enjoy it.)
But if they release something that's mechanically well-designed and fun to play, I'll personally play it and enjoy it even if it's different. I have no love for TTYD so overwhelming that I cannot enjoy an innovative take, but I also suspect occasionally that someone at Nintendo doesn't get why TTYD was fun and that kind of attitude rarely makes a good sequel.
Re: Nintendo Expands The Switch Online SNES And NES Service With Four More Titles
I mean, there are some omissions to the collection I'd like them to correct soonish (especially some of the 1st party ones on the SNES mini that aren't on SNES online), but I can't complain - I've wanted to try Panel de Pon, and Wild Guns sounds fun.
Re: Gallery: Paper Mario: The Origami King - 20 Gorgeous Screenshots And Box Art Revealed
@RazorThin Mainly because Sticker Star papercut a lot of us so dang deep: it had a lot of really sketchy gameplay elements (its battle system had some major game design problems with rewarding the player for avoiding it and the sticker mechanic as it was implemented forced loads of perpetual backtracking as two of many examples), paper thin puzzle design (buy a sticker, put it in the right spot, watch a cutscene) and it erased all the character and plot. Besides its graphics, it was an amateur effort. And since the last 3 games before it were so good, a lot of us weren't expecting it and got burned bad.
Color Splash doesn't exactly deserve the fan reaction, except it sort of does. I don't care about change in the series but I do care about charm and I do care about game design. Color Splash brought back charm and fixed some of the poorly designed mechanics. But it latched onto some less fun design choices from Sticker Star that most of the fans (still washing the salt out of their numerous Sticker Star caused wounds) were very unhappy to see: the battle system still got rid of exp points without a system in place that was as effective at rewarding the player for battles (the paint system is better than nothing, but once you get enough paint, running is better than fighting). The unnamed Toads are more charming, more funny, but it wouldn't have been hard to write characters instead of unnamed identical NPCs. And while the Koopalings are written characters, so they probably don't deserve the hate, it gave off generic New Super Mario Bros vibes compared to the unique, personality filled bosses of the first 3 games. The main reason people hate it when it probably deserves to be remembered as good-but-not-great is because Nintendo showed they still liked some of the less great ideas from Sticker Star. Also nobody bought the Wii U.
So some people are probably being toxic because this is the internet, but after a hard miss and an okay but flawed entry, I do think people are justified in hoping this new game is something different and in not trusting the game will be good until they see more. A reasonable position as a consumer.
Re: New Animal Crossing: New Horizons Glitch Lets You Walk On Rooftops And In The Sea
Shoutouts to Stephen and Mal though. Funny people - I've been watching for years. Glitch videos or guides are about 0.00001 percent of what Stephen does (although he did figure out how the focus on the New Horizons camera works on Twitter). His LPs of Chulip, Mario Kart, Twilight Princess, and Mario Sunshine with Mal are personal favorites. He does a daily LP episode, a daily Mario Maker level on weekdays using a community ranking site that's way better than Mario Maker's search tools for finding good levels (that series is past episode 1000), a weekly impression of the first half hour or so of a game, a weekly gaming stream, a breakfast talk stream twice a week, a daily life vlog that's been going for over a decade, and Mal runs a channel called MalMakes where she paints video game art in a Bob Ross style format with relaxing music and commentary. Most recent addition is an Animal Crossing fruit still-life. And between the work they put into their Extra Life stream and the Runaway Guys Colosseum stream, they raise a lot for charities.
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Player Builds LEGO Tool That Plays The Game For Them
The endless a mashing to get bell vouchers is admittedly, really annoying after about the 10th voucher, going through all the text and the slow printing animation for each one. I admit thinking to myself that a turbo controller would be nice.
I'd say I'm surprised the process is so slow when that's 1 of 2 things to spend Nook Miles on. I don't say that cynically: they keep giving me Nook Miles and they clearly want me to spend them on bell vouchers and Nook Miles tickets, since there's not a daily selection of other stuff and they clearly expect you to get everything you want pretty quickly. But it's Nintendo - having quality of life improvements is the surprise, not their absence.
Re: Review: Indivisible - An Enjoyable And Beautiful RPG Hybrid With A Few Rough Edges
@Pip_Pipston I can think of a lot of novels which have poor pacing but great writing. There can be a lot of really well written characters and scenes, but the author isn't great at judging which scenes need to be in the story (or simply disagrees with the reader). To a point, a reader will usually overlook it if the rest is good.
Re: Review: Indivisible - An Enjoyable And Beautiful RPG Hybrid With A Few Rough Edges
An RPG with little to no economic motivation for the player to engage in battles is a problem if battles are a main part of the content. If the battling is where a lot of the content made is, but there's an economic motivation for the player to avoid it, then if what's left isn't good, you're encouraging the player to skip the game. Sticker Star was a problem because it encouraged skipping battles and didn't have satisfying story, puzzles, or gameplay. All that was left was the graphics. This game at least looks like it has a story and characters, but if the gameplay discourages the player from fighting battles and the platforming is average, I'm worried about what's left?
The opposite problem from this or Sticker Star is most 80s and 90s menu based RPGs, where the random battles were often snoozefests (you're not usually going to use cool abilities against giant bug number 2095, so random encounters often are about spamming fight), but provide so much reward to the player that beating the game without grinding them is impossible. The balance, of course, is giving a good enough reward for battles and also making them fun.
Re: Ubisoft Kicks Off Another Huge Switch Sale, Up To 75% Off Action-Adventure Games (North America)
I've been really enjoying Raymond Legends, as someone who cares about thoughtful level design. It's really well made so far.
Re: Why Does Nintendo Use Friend Codes Instead Of Screen Names? Leaked Documents Reveal All
Another area where Nintendo thinking they know better than the rest of the industry only works when they also offer the basic features a consumer expects. Everyone online is familiar with creating a username because we've been doing it our whole lives. Nintendo wifi has also been a nightmare since I got a DS at 11 because playing with a friend involves these nonsense friend codes (and back in the DS days, getting your friend to convince their parents to change their router to WPA security so we could play Mario Kart). These codes confused kids and parents and they were and are an objectively worse experience than usernames, which anyone with an email knows how to use.
And it wouldn't be quite as big of a deal if the name "Nintendo" hasn't so consistently been synonymous with "poor quality online." It's just fitting that the first step to playing with friends is an arbitrarily missing feature that makes everything more frustrating when that phrase defines their online experiences since the DS.
For what it's worth, if Nintendo put half the effort and quality they do into quality single player or local multiplayer games into their online, they'd be the best in the business at it. I don't hate Nintendo at all, but especially if they're releasing online multiplayer games, they should care some about the quality of their product.
Re: Soapbox: Switch Really Needs Games Like Excitebike 64, Wave Race, 1080° Snowboarding And, Yes, F-Zero
Nintendo trailer zooms in to reveal an F-Zero racer...
On a board. F-Zero Party! Falcon and Friends compete to finish the board game race while wacky events and minigames happen! But make sure to manage your fuel, or it's game over! F-Zero Party! Out Holiday 2020!
Re: It's Been Three Years Since Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Was Released On Nintendo Switch
The game only needs three things for perfection
1: Don't default to the control options nobody wants to use when playing local multiplayer. It's like a bowling alley defaulting to bumpers on.
2. R.O.B. returns
3. No blue shells. What an awful powerup from a design perspective. The stated purpose is to help players at the back of the pack. The bullet bill does that; the blue shell only helps the people at the front of the pack and is only a frustration in single player. What an awful mechanic.
That's all I can think of to nitpick, so the game must be pretty good.
Re: Random: Cadence Of Hyrule Guitarist Jokingly Petitions For Time Travel Cheater Stamp In Animal Crossing
@JayronAuron We're all time traveling, when you think about it a certain way.
Woah.
Re: Random: Cadence Of Hyrule Guitarist Jokingly Petitions For Time Travel Cheater Stamp In Animal Crossing
@JayronAuron True. It was a deep psychological analysis of Past!Alpharad by Present!Alpharad.
Re: Frustrated Super Smash Bros. Fans Get #FixUltimateOnline Trending On Social Media
At some point, it's a matter of Nintendo's reputation for quality. They don't have to have good netcode to make money; we'll all buy the game and the online service anyway. But Nintendo is repeatedly making it clear that they don't care about offering the best or even good online service. Over and over, they release slow, laggy online multiplayer modes. Smash Ultimate is the worst offender in my book simply because better netcode systems have existed since 2008 and Nintendo is choosing to use delay based netcode systems because they don't have to do better.
It's sad because they'll put shocking levels of effort into making a game the best it can be and then purposefully botch the online out of what has to be laziness or apathy.
Re: Random: Cadence Of Hyrule Guitarist Jokingly Petitions For Time Travel Cheater Stamp In Animal Crossing
Breaking news: Apology video on Alpharad's channel. It's a pretty beautiful satire of bad apology videos.
Now he just needs to apologise for the pain and suffering caused by his Mario Maker levels.
Re: Random: Cadence Of Hyrule Guitarist Jokingly Petitions For Time Travel Cheater Stamp In Animal Crossing
Don't mind Nintendo Life using Animal Crossing controversy for clicks, but this is a little sketchy, using two Youtube friends goofing around on Twitter out of context for a clickbait article. I follow Alpharad on Twitter - this is hilariously out of context to suggest there's any controversy here. Both of them can take it, but I'm also not sure why you think Alpharad or Family Jules deserve this, unless the journalist is also part of the bit.
Re: Dr. Mario World Continues To Deliver With New Character 'Dr. Goomba Tower'
Okay, but if a stack of goombas was playable in Smash or Mario Party or whatever, you bet I'd play as the stack o' goombas.
Re: The PM Studios "Stay Safe" Sale Is Now Live, Save Up To 50% On Physical Switch Games
Deemo has a killer soundtrack. Lots of songs, lots of bangers. And the rhythm game works well in handheld. Not like, 10/10 GOTY stuff, but I've kept going back to it over and over.
Re: Poll: Is It Cool To Time Travel In Animal Crossing: New Horizons?
I was amused enough by the whole hullabaloo to write an ironically deep poem over a lunch break a few days ago about the time travel debate, with a boy becoming a god and facing the wrath of the masses only to see all and destroy his world prematurely. I'd post it here for the lols, except it would break the no foreign language rule.
The gist of the situation as I see it is that the anti-time travelers are right in that Animal Crossing often grows boring after you have no goals left and time travelers will probably see everything the game has to offer quickly and grow bored sooner than a non time traveler. That's part of why I don't time travel.
But the pro time travelers are right to say "so what?". Why is that anyone else's business if someone else plays a video game "wrong?" Who cares if some internet stranger grows bored of a game I like? Who cares if their island is nicer than mine? From where I'm sitting, none of that is worth even a second of my anger, none of that is worth any part of my peace of mind, none of that is even really any of my business.
If their cheating affects my experience in any way, it's because I let it: I either let it make me jealous or let it make me angry. Both of those are completely and utterly my fault. Not the time traveler's.
Re: Capcom Is Hosting A Huge Spring Sale, Super Savings On 32 eShop Titles (North America)
@burninmylight I've beaten the Wii version and been slowly working through the Switch version. The Wii pointer was quick and snappy, but apt to freak out and didn't like making straight lines in my experience. It worked though.
The Switch gives you a choice between using the right stick or the joycon pointer. Since so few games use the joycon as a pointer, that will feel weird at first, but it works and I think is a little more accurate than the wii. Either works in my opinion. I like the pointer better, but since I usually play Switch in handheld mode, I often use the stick.
Re: Capcom Is Hosting A Huge Spring Sale, Super Savings On 32 eShop Titles (North America)
Okami is well worth a play for fans of GameCube/Wii era 3D Zeldas. The graphics are uniquely impressive and the gameplay is comparable to Twilight Princess in some ways, but knocks that game's overworld into the mud and its dungeons do a much better job than Zelda usually does at consistently using dungeon items throughout the game in combination with each other, while Zelda tends to focus mostly on the item of that dungeon. If you want a game that takes the 3D Zelda formula and packs it to the brim with aesthetic and content, it's worth every penny.
That isn't to say I don't have complaints: Issun makes Navi look like she's taken a vow of silence and the paint mechanic can confuse some commands for others. But it's overall a uniquely stylish experience.
Re: Fans And Analysts Ponder The Eternal Question: Can Nintendo Survive Without Shigeru Miyamoto?
Nor is memento mori particularly morbid by itself. It's just the truth. That doesn't have to make one morbid.
Miyamoto retires. The Paper Mario franchise soars to unforeseen heights. Under the inspiration and soul moving narrative of the now unrepressed Paper Mario works, humanity enters a new golden age. In a hundred years of peace, non-Paper Mario is considered a niche spinoff series.
I kid, I kid. Miyamoto is a genius and every time he talks about his design process, it's fascinating.
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Scams - Friends, Best Friends And How To Keep Yourself Safe Online
People have been doing this kind of nonsense for as long as I can remember: I was a smart kid and never fell for them, but I played Neopets and Club Penguin and there were a bajillion "free neopoints" websites out there. I'd recognize these as scams in a heartbeat, but a kid or an adult who isn't computer savvy might not.
Re: Soapbox: This Little Plastic Disc Has Enriched My Animal Crossing: New Horizons Experience
@Kalmaro I wouldn't say a universal standard is necessary for agreement. In a situation like this where people disagree about moral action because they have different premises, there could be a number of outcomes, including neither persuading the other, one persuading the other within the other's moral framework, or one persuading the other by challenging the other's premises.
Let's lock Bob the Deontologist and Joe the Utilitarian in a room until they agree about whether pirating amiibo figures is moral or immoral. If Bob says, "It's immoral because stealing is wrong!", his argument won't persuade Joe because Joe thinks stealing can be right. Bob, if he knows what Joe does think, could instead persuade Joe somehow that pirating amiibo figures actually hurts people and causes suffering. That would persuade Joe that according to his own beliefs, pirating the amiibo is wrong. Now the two both are in agreement that pirating amiibo is wrong, but without sharing the same premises. For all intents and purposes, a harmony between the two.
(Ignoring of course that they share a common idea that morality exists and that actions can be right or wrong, so there is a common belief there)
Re: Soapbox: This Little Plastic Disc Has Enriched My Animal Crossing: New Horizons Experience
This seems to boil down to deontology versus utilitarianism again, or whether actions are moral/immoral regardless of their consequences or because of their consequences.
The author is making a utilitarian argument: this isn't immoral because nobody is losing money.
The comments are largely making a deontological argument: One has a moral duty to keep reasonable laws and a moral duty not to steal, so this is immoral.
Which means neither side will find the other's reasoning convincing by itself because both have different ways to decide whether something is moral.
Re: Reminder: Today Is Bunny Day In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Brief analysis: New Leaf's Bunny Day wasn't my favorite holiday in NL, but it was fun and despite being similar to NH Bunny Day, it was more enjoyable. The furniture wasn't great, but the holiday furniture sets usually weren't my favorites.
NH Bunny Day has a similar activity to NL Bunny Day. In both, eggs are hidden that you find by doing normal AC activities like fishing, breaking rocks, etc. Both use preexisting activities instead of introducing a new one, which means the novelty is likely to wear off sooner than a new activity. That's not bad, but something a developer should remember.
What you do with the eggs is different. In NL, you eat the eggs and some give you prize tickets, which you trade in for furniture. In NH, you collect recipes for furniture and craft them using eggs. Either way, you collect eggs and exchange them for furniture, so a similar event.
The main difference is the amount of time. NL is one day, NH is 12 days. This probably is because 1. The crafting process requires more eggs than NL's prize tickets, and 2. People who aren't able to play much on Easter are able to participate and get some items. But the con is that the novelty wears off quick since the activity doesn't take 2 weeks to do, even for people who want multiples. NL's Bunny Day doesn't have that problem because you collect the eggs across one day.
A Solution: give out the recipes across early April to build hype, cut the egg collection down to a weekend, and cut the crafting requirements for some items in half so it can easily be accomplished in a weekend.
Re: Reminder: Today Is Bunny Day In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
I'm not like, angry about this, because it's just an event in a video game and I made a lot of bells from it, but the Bunny Day activities on Bunny Day lasted about 2 minutes for me. I'd already collected everything without going out of my way and had a bunch of extra eggs, so I crafted the two new recipes and was done. From a design perspective, I get the motivation for spreading the activity out so that players who are busy on the holiday itself can still play the content. But this was probably a bit extreme.
Craft a bunch of stuff with the extra eggs for some good money: I haven't done the math to figure out the most ideal items to sell, but the arch and wobbling toys are worth a lot, so I made as many of those as possible, then crafted whatever I could with the rest.
Also, if this is like past AC games, a full set of holiday furniture usually is an easy way to get a full set bonus from the Happy Home Academy. The holiday furniture sets usually haven't been my favorites in previous AC games, but if you want the HHA score without having to collect other furniture sets, that's one trick.
Re: Animal Crossing: New Horizons Villager Potentially Leaks Museum Art Gallery Update
@Crockin To be fair, the content Nintendo has promised is holiday events. It makes sense for them to add other kinds of content too and I'm guessing it will happen, but I'm not going to expect it until Nintendo says they are adding other content.
Re: Random: Stephen Fry Is Somewhat Perplexed By Animal Crossing: New Horizons
There's not really a point - it appeals to the part of the human mind that enjoys gardening. When you garden, you take a plot of land that isn't being used, clear it, and plant something. You habitually check it, water it, care for it, and watch it grow. And eventually, you start to see little rewards here and there.
You could argue that Animal Crossing is a real time collectathon, but I think that ignores that the core of the gameplay is building habits that over time complete long term goals and slowly transform a flat field into a garden full of stuff you built and plants you grew.
And carving out a half hour to build a relaxing habit isn't the worst thing a person can do for their well-being.
Re: Random: Please Nintendo, Animal Crossing: New Horizons Needs A Balloon Nerf Right Now
@muscpt For me, it works just like the museum: I select everything I want to sell with A, there's a circle around the items I select, then I press + to sell all the selected items at once. Is selling items to Timmy and Tommy working differently for you?
Re: Poll: Animal Crossing: New Horizons - What Would You Like To See Added In An Update?
I'm hoping more mid to late game content is added in updates. The core Animal Crossing gameplay is the best it's ever been. But compared to New Leaf, there's a lot fewer daily things to do, a lot fewer minigames, a lot fewer late game projects, a lot fewer shops, fewer traveling villagers, and less to do in multiplayer. I'm not complaining exactly: I'm still early on after all. But I am hoping they add more side content and long term projects so it's still fun in a year: I've just been playing the game normally and I made it through the get 3 stars quest today.
I'd like to see a cafe. I'd like to see a late game shop or two, like a Gracie Grace shop. I'd like to see more late game things to spend Nook Miles on, maybe mini games or the Nintendo furniture. But I'm not making a checklist of things I need to see: the thing I want is side content and projects like New Leaf had that help add longevity to the game, whether that's returning ideas or new ones. New Leaf is still a game I can pull up years later and find content I haven't seen. I'd like New Horizons updates to make the game that and more.
Re: Random: Pichu Player Shocks Himself While He Plays Smash Bros. Ultimate
The answer to just about every "why" question on this thread or on any article of this nature is that doing weird things for an audience is and has long been entertainment and entertainment can be provided in exchange for resources and income.
This man plays a video game in a weird way, that gets people who find that interesting or funny to watch him play the video game in a weird way, companies pay YouTube money to put advertisements up along with the funny video game man and YouTube gives some of that money to the funny video game man. Funny video game man can exchange that money for desired goods and resources.
Re: Mini Review: Pooplers - We’re Not Kidding, This Game Really Is Poop
Nintendo Life: "Don't buy this game about babies pooping everywhere. Save up your pennies for the real deal instead!"
History Teacher: "And with one review of a shovelware game, Nintendo Life set off a baby boom, a generation often referred to as the Pooplers."
Re: Random: Is The World Of Animal Crossing: New Horizons All A Lie?
@RPGamer It also has a new rival for games involving living on an island with a talking animal in charge who gives morning announcements.
Re: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Contains A New Epilogue Story, Launches In May
Biggest question: will you be able to hear the new music tracks under the literally constant screaming unlike in the original? Just a simple option to turn off combat voice clips or even to lower their volume? Because the Wii version is just constantly yelling move names and catch phrases, like you can't fight an ant without the characters wanting it to be a pro wrestling match... Good game, but it's a shame the volume has to be turned down for it to be a good game because the music is great when you can hear it.
I'm worried because XC2 just doubled down on the constant screaming of catchphrases by having 6 constantly screaming characters - the audio in that game borders on hilarious.
Re: Angry Players Are Starting To Review-Bomb Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Like, it's okay for people who share a switch to not be happy that Nintendo isn't letting them play the game in a way that makes sense. It's okay for them to not be happy. Someone not being happy about something that doesn't bother you much doesn't mean they're whining. It might even be a chance to try empathizing with someone else who has different priorities and to think about why they feel and think the way they do.
Re: Angry Players Are Starting To Review-Bomb Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Having one island a system is an awful design choice. The game being made by Nintendo doesn't cancel that. The game being fun doesn't change that. They easily, easily, easily could have given an option that lets people play in single player instead of forcing multiplayer. The game is full of design decisions that make sharing an island a huge pain in the rear. I'm glad I don't have to. And it's okay to acknowledge that. It's a product for sale, not a gift.
But a comments section on a Nintendo site isn't a great place to convince people that Nintendo purposefully made a bad design decision. Guess that's what Metacritic is for.
Re: Random: Bandai Namco Twitter Account Complains About Animal Crossing, Tweet Quickly Deleted
Goodness, some people think it's a reasonable statement to say that if you don't want to share an island and to have to manage crafting resources across siblings, you should pay hundreds of dollars each for each parent and sibling to have their own switch. For a problem which every other game has solved already. I'm glad some are in such a good financial situation, but not glad that they're sheltered from the rest of the world so as to not be able to imagine another reality.
It's a greedy cash grab, by consequence if not by purpose. The game is good, but there's no excuse for this. And it is very clear that the game isn't supposed to be played like that: only the player who gets on first gets the rocks or the wood from the trees. There's enough resources on an island where a single player character can find them, but has to look sometimes for things like iron and wood. It would be frustrating to split those resources in a family that gets along and honestly, I'm lucky in that regard (though I live out of state now), but lots of people don't.
Re: Masahiro Sakurai Says "It's A Total Blank Slate" After He Finishes Smash Bros. Ultimate's DLC
Sakurai is a creative guy: best scenario for us is that he gets to do what he wants.
Re: Nintendo Is Already Fighting Off Hackers In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Nintendo is sure being vigilant in stopping people from hacking...a single player game... Cool? Way to be deontological, Big N.
Re: Random: Sorry, The Froggy Chair Doesn’t Seem To Be In Animal Crossing: New Horizons
I'm more familiar with the "television that looks like an apple meme," but that's mostly because Jim Sterling used it all the time.
Re: Sakurai Says There's A "High Probability" Of Smash Bros. DLC Development Not Proceeding As Scheduled
So there's at least one non-Nintendo publisher involved. Not surprising given fighter pass 1 had a focus on third party characters, but pretty cool.
There are so many characters in Smash that it's easy to try a new character for a week and have it feel as brand new as a DLC character, so if there's a delay, I'll still enjoy Smash. I've been trying out Villager online - he's not objectively good in this game, I think but he has so many projectile based mind games
Re: The First Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review Is In
Nintendogs doesn't deserve a perfect score. It's good, best pet sim until Nintendogs + Cats but the voice commands often don't work and the content is often very limited. Great game, but some clear reasons to knock points. New Leaf deserves a perfect score over Nintendogs.
Skyward Sword is beautiful and the combat is fun but how do you say it's perfect when it spends half of the game slowing you down to spend hours doing monotonous busywork like swimming through a lake finding tadpoles? That game doesn't care whether you're having fun. Ever. There is fun, but the game doesn't care either way if you're having fun. It'll be throwing great puzzles and boss fights at you and then decide you need to stop for an hour and contemplate the whims of fortune by pointing the wii remote at stuff and listening to beeps for an hour. And those pineapple boss fights are the glitchiest thing I've played in a 1st Party Nintendo game besides the swarming enemies mechanic in Pikmin 1. It is I think the least replayable Zelda game by far.
Kid Icarus is also beautiful and funny and packed with fun content, but it isn't built for the hardware: it demands that one cramp one's left hand and demands quickly flicking the circle pad left in a way that usually breaks it. And it's difficult to replay from scratch because I get used to having good weapons instead of awful ones and the grind while I get them again is awful.
Re: The First Animal Crossing: New Horizons Review Is In
Speaking as a lifelong Animal Crossing fan, I love the series and it's arguably my favorite series to play, but its stubborn repetition of the same content over decades and its stubborn clinging to bad design choices out of tradition mean I'm not sure there's a game in the series I'd give a perfect score to. Even New Leaf has an unbalanced economy, obnoxious inventory management, overly harsh punishments for not playing, too much repetition of NPC dialogue, and otherwise great town customization marred by the inability to move rocks, or randomly placed buildings. I'd give New Leaf a 38 out of 40: a point off for the NPCs being somewhat bland and a point off for half the game being wrestling with the inventory. Still amazing in almost every other way. If NH is better than New Leaf, it doesn't have to be perfect to be a game I'll love for years.
Re: Former Nintendo Of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé Joins GameStop's Board Of Directors
@Heavyarms55 I don't know; if anyone could pull off the Stardew Valley plan for rural economic rejuvenation of "punch Walmart in the face and wear shades," it's probably Regginator Fis-a-Mech.
Re: "Why Make It Mini?" NES Creator Says People Would Still Buy A Regular System Today
What I would like is the ability to buy retro games on current Nintendo consoles.