Dodger

I've been amused: I've played enough Rune Factory and Harvest Moon to know what the core of the gameplay is, but I haven't seen a single ad for this game that advertises the core farming/dungeon crawling gameplay mechanics. Literally the only ads I've seen have been either about the swimsuit DLC or the eligable bachelorettes. If I hadn't already played some of this game on the 3DS, I wouldn't even know that the game is a farming sim from its ad campaign.

Plus DLC, "A New Peppy: Spirit of the Barrel Roll"

@Yorumi and it's not helped by how sites like this basically only ever post controversial esports news because it brings in negative comments and engagement, which drives a reputation that esports is only negative, which drives more negative engagement the next time a negative esports article is posted.

There's rarely articles like say, "Monthly Nintendo Esports Roundup: There were these tourneys this month in these 1st and 3rd Party Nintendo games, here are the highlights, and these players won!" I would read those articles and it would be something to post on slow newsdays, but I suspect NL doesn't get as much engagement with that kind of content as with negative Esports headlines. That's a difficulty with ad driven media across the board: negative content gets more money, so there's financial motivation to create negative content.

Again, I'm not necessarily pro-Nintendo prize pools, but the idea that Nintendo is too busy making games and consoles to support competitive esports doesn't make any sense. That's what marketing departments are for. Setting a marketing team on supporting competitive Nintendo esports doesn't take any developers away from console or game development any more than making an advertisement or setting up a mall tour does. Those staff wouldn't be working on developing BotW 2 if they weren't working on a marketing project because they're trained in marketing, not programming.

The question Nintendo would have to ask is whether they'll make enough from people buying Nintendo games and products specifically because Nintendo sponsored competitive games like Smash and Splatoon to outweigh the cost of the marketing employees required to maintain that sponsorship and support. As well as whether those marketing resources would make more if allocated elsewhere: would they make more planning a tour of Best Buys or something for Animal Crossing New Horizons with those employees then planning and staffing a Nintendo sponsored Smash Bros tourney. Would they make a profit - if so, those employees are paying for themselves and they could theoretically take that profit and pay for more marketing projects for other games or for more development staff - and would they make more of a profit elsewhere?

I'd suspect that competitive Smash Bros if marketed well could convince some people who don't have a Switch to get a Switch to play Smash Bros, but probably wouldn't bring many people who have Switches but not Smash Ultimate to buy Smash Ultimate. I'd be skeptical of the advantage for Nintendo unless someplace like ESPN picked up Smash tourneys consistently simply because I suspect most of the fanbase for competitive Smash Ultimate already owns Smash Ultimate and a Switch.

It's fascinating to me sometimes how little an interest in esports has trickled down to the audience that likes the games being played. That's not a judgement on anyone who doesn't enjoy esports, you don't have to, but it is fascinating that on a Nintendo fansite, the user response to esports articles on Nintendo games is almost exclusively negative. That seems weird. Something is being lost in advertising, I suspect? I wonder if it's the esports tag at some point? Because if I just said "watch the best players of Smash Ultimate compete," I don't think that would have the same negative idea with it? But clearly people who like Smash Bros. think negatively of competitive Smash, even of relatively likable and respected players in the scene like Hungrybox, MKLeo, and Esam.

The reality is this, and I'm not saying this is good or bad in itself: because Smash Bros. prize pots are basically non-existent, money comes from two places: being sponsored by corporations and from content creation on Twitch and YouTube. Corporations often see players' value as being based on content creation too because that's where the money is. That's not bad per se, but it creates an economic motivation to play enough to be recognized as a good player, then use that reputation to build YouTube and Twitch channels to have a steady income.

Larger prize pots would help top players like MKLeo and Samsora and Mars get income from doing well at major tourneys. That leaves top players more time to attend smaller tourneys where they get practice and more importantly, everyone else gets practice against them. Currently, nobody is competing for the money because there's barely any. If there were larger prize pots, it would basically really effect the 20-30 players who already consistently place top 8 at majors. So the main effect is allowing those players to put more time into practicing and competing. That has positive and negative effects on the scene: it means the top have another advantage, but also gives the advantage to top 100 players of playing top 20 players more often. I'm torn myself: I'd rather see more effort to let people who want to watch good competitive Smash support tourneys and players like with Summit.

Whatever Sakurai does next will almost certainly be worth playing. I don't have any requests.

(Although it would be kind of hilarious if he made a bad Waluigi game on purpose as revenge)

Wouldn't be a Nintendo game without at least one completely asinine design choice that fails to meet perfectly reasonable user expectations. Ha ha isn't Nintendo quirky?

I'll still play and love this game though, so Nintendo never has to learn...

I'm not saying what the market will look like in 5 years because the last 40 years of tech teaches that that is not an easy thing to do, but I can say that in the present, I see adults and kids using the Switch because it has games they want to play. I'll be going on a flight and the TSA agent feeling up my thighs is talking about how he plays Falco. I worked at my college's mailroom last year, the mailman mentioned after delivering my pro controllers that he loves BotW and being able to play in handheld mode. I teach now and my students are always talking about Sword and Shield, Splatoon, and Smash Bros. In the present, this thing seems to have made it into the mainstream market. In 3 years? They might be right that the hardware will be outdated or consoles will be. I wouldn't want to guess what countries will exist in 3-5 years, much less what computers will look like. I would suspect however that since they've been so successful at getting Nintendo games into the hands of 3 generations at this point that the IP will continue to be popular. Culture is a little more predicable; people often are nostalgic for their childhood.

Golding says that the game is just about a goose? There goes my 9 hour video essay on how the game is a masterpiece of political allegory where the goose represents meritocratic bureaucracy and how it harrasses the working class with all encompassing regulations.

Unless... Golding is being esoteric and hiding his true message behind statements that it doesn't exist! My scholarly career is saved!

(I'm kidding, of course. Tone and the internet, good to be careful)

Smash Bros. has Dr. Mario who packs a punch but is slow. I propose Chubby Pikachu as a DLC character.

Obligatory reminder that publishers are to developers as patrons are to artists and in this case, Pope Natsume kicked Michelangelo out of the Harvest Moon chapel and he went off to paint Story of Seasons instead.

I've never seen a game less worthy of hatred or adoration. It's a solid and functional multiplayer game with surprisingly reasonable pricing for a free to play game. No more, no less.

Like with so many other things about the Switch, what makes this particularly annoying is that Nintendo had figured this out before. They had functional UI on the Wii U and 3DS. Now they broke it.

As a virtual console service, NSO is made to look silly by the Wii VC. Nintendo has never come close to the same quality of library, but this is sillier than usual. I can't even play Ocarina of Time, which is one I could play on the Wii, Wii U, or 3DS. Or GameCube for that matter.

As an online service, it lacks basic functionality and several key online Nintendo games like Mario Maker and Smash Bros. at times are barely functional because of the inadequacy of the netcode.

But when push comes to shove I'll buy it anyway so I can play Smash Bros. and Mario Kart and Mario Maker.

I should temper my previous comment by saying that there are plenty of worse products being offered by worse companies. I mean, Bethesda is selling Fallout 76 in France, right? Joycons actually do work most of the time until they don't.

My family has had a joycon drift and the signal is spotty from 7 feet away. Joycons are the worst piece of Nintendo hardware I've ever purchased, no question.

As an option, likely yes. There are enough places in the world with good enough online infrastructure and with good enough online infrastructure, it could easily be a superior model. But I live in Michigan. There will never be good infrastructure in Michigan. Abandoning both physical and download models for only streaming means abandoning a market like Michigan where games are commonly bought but infrastructure is average. And I can't see corporations abandoning the income from every region in the world like Michigan.

Kirby Super Star is still a pretty great co-op game. Ahead of its time in that respect.

Fishing: Barents Sea Edition? More like "Fishing: Better Not Let Your Parents See You Playing This Game! Because They'll be Disappointed by Your Taste in Video Games! Edition! (Aw yeah s1ck burnz yo! )

I don't actually have anything against this game. I just wanted to share a really stupid pun.

So was the rap changed to mention DK's coconut guns which fire in spurts? Or did the reference to coconut guns in the rap predate the coconut guns' invention?

@HeavyArmsSS Apart from warning people about broken games, talking about bad pieces of media can be a good platform for talking about how to make good pieces of media. This game sounds like a lesson that to make an open world game, you have to pay attention to the technical side of game development and can't just let things which don't work slide because this genre is built so much on atmosphere and awe.

Just noticed the mini review tag. Sounds like it's not a brand new thing, but I like the idea. Always appreciated how old school Nintendo Life reviewed most WiiWare and DSiware, pointed out stinkers, hidden gems, and games that fans of a genre might enjoy. Mini reviews are a way to fill that gap. Nice.

Clarification: I meant to type "I don't think it's morally wrong for kids to play video games." I blame my phone keyboard. Edited that in.

Again, playing devil's advocate, a reasonable and good parent who is "just parenting their child" can say "I don't think my child is able to control themselves enough for it to be wise to have video games around" or "I believe it would be better for my child to not have video games around as an option for them to use their time." That's perfectly within their authority and it could be responsible parenting.

And not wanting the money sink around is fine too. My dad banned Pokemon cards when I was young not because he thought Pokemon was morally evil, he didn't think that, but because he didn't want to pay for the cards. He bought me other toys.

I know there are a lot of people here who are going to be like "backwards evangelicals who won't let their kids play video games!" Or "just discipline your children so they don't play all day!" And I don't think it's wrong for children to play video games and I remember enjoying playing video games with my dad and sister. But to play devil's advocate, they are a huge time and money sink. A video game consistently asks for 20+ hours. Kids are impulsive, they lie, and they get obsessed with stuff. I definitely lied to play video games when I wasn't supposed to, and it sometimes was something that ate up every moment of free time I had, to the detriment of other pursuits. I could imagine a parent not wanting to deal with it, especially if their kid is an athlete or musician or is otherwise doing something that requires daily practice.

"Um...so, Mayor...I heard that management is implementing a battle pass like paid membership system? Well, uh, you know that I've endured a lot as your secretary, like your unannounced 15 month vacation, or working multiple full time positions and uh, that's fine of course! Happy to help! But it's important to me that we don't lose our soul, our integrity and uh...um...(ireallydontwanttodothis)HERESMYTWOWEEKSNOTICEIMSORRY!"

@Anti-Matter That sounds dangerous, if you say no to everyone who tells you to do something. What if someone tells you to play video games, or something almost as important, like breathing?

"Best Kart Racers on Switch"
Half the list "this is awful, would not recommend."
Sounds about right.

There's somewhere between "hating" and saying that nobody should say anything negative about these games. This review actually does a pretty good job of being there.

Pokemon is in so many ways two generations behind even where other Nintendo games are in aesthetic, game design, mechanics, performance, user interface, etc. etc. And there were some pretty bad decisions made with this one and some really bad PR. And there really shouldn't be the performance issues you describe for what's on offer in this game. There's just nothing that should be causing that. But when push comes to shove, there's some real mistakes, but the two generations old game they keep offering us is still pretty fun. It's an enjoyable 30-50 hours that I usually remember fondly. And despite the whole two versions thing, these aren't anywhere near as much of a shameless cash grab as most AAA games: they give the player their money's worth. Admitting that they made some bad decisions and should be better doesn't mean this game is awful. The biggest question for me is why I should buy this one instead of just replaying say, AlphaSapphire or Pokemon Gold, which don't make some of the mistakes this game does and are basically the same game. I mean, it doesn't sound like this one takes advantage of the more powerful hardware in any meaningful way and still has performance issues, so is it really any real upgrade from say, Alpha Sapphire, which I liked?

I'll be honest, I didn't expect the lack of a Nat Dex would be a big deal in the long run because I thought that they would cut irrelevant Pokemon. There's usually a new bidoof and a new pidgey and a new pikachu knockoff every generation and I expected they'd cut those kinds of superfluous ones that nobody would miss. I'm surprised that they're cutting so many popular 'mons, gen one staples, unique 'mons, legendaries, etc. I have no emotional investment in the matter, but it's a strange decision.

Actually curious as someone who is interested in language: where are all the R's at the end of words that don't have R's coming from? Is that a British dialect thing?

The Wii had a good VC library.
The 3DS and Wii U had a tiny VC library.
The Switch NSO library doesn't even compare to the 3DS and Wii U yet.

This is Sakurai. He easily could talk for 40 minutes about the nuances of Terry's damage animation and details in the background of the new stage, or he could decide to announce Sora, Geno, Waluigi, and Crash Bandicoot are coming to Smash tomorrow. Or he could announce that Buzzy Beetle is the 5th fighter. You never know with Sakurai and like a good college professor, whatever he decides to lecture on, he'll make it interesting.

Platform fighters are a sub-genre of fighting games. That's like saying that fuji apples aren't fruit because they're apples. Or it's more like saying that red delicious aren't apples because only your favorite kind of apple is an apple; someone mistaking their belief that one type of fighting game is better than another for a proof that only the type of fighting game they like is a fighting game.

To be fair, the article says "From here on out..." Not that they've been great about Pokemon spoilers recently for those who care. I don't, but it's a reasonable thing to care about.

If they're not expecting and factoring in leaks by this point then I don't think they're paying much attention. Regardless of whether it should be this way (and it probably shouldn't), major announcements usually get leaked. There's almost always a market for information that someone doesn't want shared (that's 90 percent of why the media exists (and why they have protected rights)) and the means to share that info to fill that market are drastically stronger than the ability to prevent it being shared right now. Their plans and expectations probably shouldn't be based around a future where there are no leaks and if they are planning for there to be no leaks then that's on them. Because that's a dumb plan. Planning for a reality that almost never happens in reality is dumb. If a reality almost never happens then you shouldn't plan for it. You should plan for and expect the reality that is likely to happen.

@Xansies To be fair, there's plenty of games on more powerful consoles which don't keep a consistent frame rate, whether because they push that hardware or because the devs don't care. Switching from the Switch wouldn't help that much. Maybe a gaming PC.

To lay my cards on the table, I don't care much about frame rate as long as it isn't less than 30 and inconsistent, but 60frames-please is always fun. I suspect there's some irony in their crusade, but to a level that becomes indistinguishable from sincerity and people's confused and angry responses are always a good time, especially since there's zero active trolling or insulting or hurting anyone going on, just essays about frame rates. I sincerely appreciate their contributions to the Nintendo Life comment section.

Mother 3 is more upfront in its artistic themes than Earthbound, which hides a bit behind its humor. Mother 3 will talk about societal decay and victims of industrialization and human nature whether you like it or not. I love that it has this great sense of humor and also is poignant and thoughtful. I can see several reasons why corporate Nintendo would hesitate to celebrate the game in the same way.

Obra Dinn, Monoco, and A Hat in Time. It's a good week for Switch rereleases of good indie games.

Remember this next time Nintendo execs and designers get up and criticize mobile game practices. They're better than this and if they don't start selling content for a reasonable price instead of making you gamble and spend way too much money for small amounts of content, then it will be justified to call them hypocrites.

Nintendo is doing a lot of stuff in this game that I usually play their games precicely because they don't do.

My mom heard of this game and she basically just plays the Sims. I heard about it on the radio on the way to work a few days ago. The idea seems to catch people's attention.

It's a fun game. Lots of charm.

I am legitimately curious: if this game had a different theme, say it was Socrates and Friends Kart Racing where all the courses are Athenian philosophy themed and you can play as Socrates and his friends, Plato, Alcibiades, Phaedrus, Xenophon, and more, would it still deserve the same score? Some of them are video game characters thanks to Assassin's Creed now. The conclusion praises the game for being a mobile take on Mario Kart: if this was not a mobile take on the series but the first entry in another kart racing series, if everything was basically the same except the theme, would that change whether this game is worth suggesting as strongly?

Nintendo is marketing a gambling game to kids after putting forward an act at conferences like they feel bad about this practice. I'm not giving that a thumbs up. You pay $3 for a small chance to unlock Mario. You can do that a hundred times a week, as I understand. You may still not unlock Mario. They're also purposefully hiding the mode where karts move fast enough behind a $5 a month paywall. Games like Mario Odyssey had guts to avoid anti consumer and anti game design gambling mechanics in order to make a good game. I'm disappointed that they didn't have enough guts with this Mario game to avoid gambling mechanics in their kids game. They put forward an image of being better than the AAA industry, avoiding crunch and avoiding nickel and dime tactics. They want to be seen as the company that cares about employees, kids, and customers. Because of that, it's fair to expect more from Nintendo. This doesn't make them lose their reputation, but it frustrates me.

DLC and microtransactions are one thing, but lootboxes are such an anti-consumer way of selling something compared to just selling the thing and so nickel and dimey that it would take a dang good game for them not to be the line for me. And this is not a dang good game.

I've been playing through Shovel Knight, but got distracted by Mario Maker 2 and Celeste. These are clearly developers who care about level design. They introduce good mechanics, use them in interesting ways, and combine them in interesting ways. Anything they put out in the future is at least worth considering.

I'm concerned about the longevity of the control sticks as much as the next person who isn't sticking their fingers in their ears and saying joycons work perfectly, but this is the kind of conversation to be having in a few months at minimum. Most joycons don't break in a week.

Torn. Does some things well, especially after 9 and 10 weren't really enjoyable board games and 8 didn't have great mini games. But does Super really beat Mario Party 2? As a board game or a mini game collection? That's debatable. Not as the former, maybe as the latter. And that's an N64 game.

New rhythm game from Elite Beat Agents devs? I'm listening.

@PaperLucario It probably doesn't help, but I doubt most esports players will be remembered for very long by very many for being good at a couple video games. Considering that only a handful of sports players are remembered 80 years after their careers. Same could be said of congressmen, artists, authors, most people in general.

Legacy is a messy and random thing. I don't worry about it much myself, because I expect I'll be too dead to care about what people think about me after I'm dead.

I will say that F-Zero holds up WAY better than Super Mario Kart in both controls and graphics. I don't want to sound entirely negative.

Controversial Opinion: I can play the game well enough, but I can't help but think that it has really unsatisfying controls. I've tried to have fun with this one and the GBA version, but they're both like Ice Levels: The Racing Game. I think it was Miyamoto who talked about the ergonomics of gaming, where it should feel satisfying when you press a button and get a result on the screen, you press, Mario jumps. This game is more about fighting with the absence of satisfying ergonomics than enjoying the controls, I think.