Dogorilla

We've been waiting for Pikmin 4 since the Switch was still the NX, I think that'll be just as good a swansong!

I only have the VR kit (couldn't really justify the price or space commitment for all of them) but I love the idea of these things, it's so clever. Although I have to say I have absolutely no memory of Bill Nye being involved in advertising them.

My first actually was Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales! As for mainline games, I've only played IX; I really need to get round to playing VI (aka III) on the SNES Mini I've had for nearly 5 years...

I've always thought the European covers for these games were a bit dull, but looking at it again here, the gold lettering against the black background and the town shown through the hat logo actually look pretty stylish.

It's possibly my favourite game ever and yet I still have shrines and sidequests left undone, as well as Trial of the Sword, riding the Lord of the Mountain, and I think there's even a fairy fountain I haven't found. I don't want to force myself to do all that in the next month so instead I'll just go back to the game and chip away at it whenever I feel like it, but I'm a bit worried it will be difficult to go back to after getting used to Tears of the Kingdom.

The consensus is slightly worse than I expected but it was always just going to be a fun celebration of all things Mario rather than a critical darling, so hopefully it will be entertaining under those expectations.

What's the point in removing free plays? Especially if you CAN still get them from the practice catcher - I'm glad there's still a way to play it but if that's the case why not just let us get the free daily plays as well? Nintendo's decision making is just baffling sometimes.

@Plattym3 Thanks for the input, I don't mind the idea of a puzzle strategy game but I'll probably skip it. Although it's interesting how positive all the reviews are if you look at Metacritic. I suppose the online multiplayer gave it much more longevity back in the day but that's long gone now.

I'm still on the fence about this one (I know it's a bit late to be on the fence) and these very mixed comments aren't helping, lol. I love Dragon Quest and strategy games but with no story mode I'm not sure how much I'd get out of this.

@Rambler Oh yeah, totally agreed on the environmental side. I was more referring to products that are exorbitantly priced just for their looks rather than function, but even I'm tempted by these Mario ones.

I've never really understood why people spend so much on fancy-looking bath products... until I saw these.

This is a great little game. Nowadays it's hard to imagine Nintendo releasing an original first-party game for less than £2!

There are a lot of GameCube games I want to play but are really expensive to buy now, like Chibi-Robo, Kirby Air Ride, and Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, so I'd be happy with a simple port or remaster of any of them. But if we're talking about a full remake, I'd have to say Super Mario Sunshine. It has so much charm but it's too janky and frustrating to be consistently fun. So if Nintendo could iron out its flaws, update the graphics to Odyssey quality, and ideally throw in some new levels to sweeten the deal, it could be something genuinely special.

Most of these I either already have or can be played on Switch or elsewhere, but I'll consider grabbing escapeVektor at that price.

Love this game! I do think it's fairly likely to come to Switch now the Apple Arcade version exists, but it feels right at home on the 3DS so I think it's still worth getting for the low asking price (and there's a demo for anyone on the fence).

It's funny hearing the Mario Bros ad referring to him as 'Mario from Donkey Kong'!

@JohnnyMind Hmm, maybe the site is somehow misinterpreting my location as Germany then. It wasn't doing that before this update so I'm not sure why it would do that or how to change it.

@Bunkerneath It's 90p on Switch at the moment which might be what you saw if you searched for it on Nintendo's website? But it's free on 3DS

For some reason it's now started redirecting me to the German version of the site every time I visit it?

Now if they could just remove the always-online requirement, I might play it more...

Such a shame this never got a physical release so it will be lost to time unless the devs find a way to make it work on another platform (like using a smartphone as a controller or something). If you only buy one Wii U eShop game, make sure it's this one.

I've never paid for a theme but got all the free and My Nintendo ones I could, and my favourite is the Breath of the Wild one. I know it's a bit of a weird choice as it's not a 3DS game, but it gives all your folders a Sheikah design and plays lovely, relaxing ambient sounds from the game.

@BlueBCA Agreed, it would be nice to have a simple way to just play the game with people without everyone needing to build a deck, but there's no way I'd pay £200 for it if that really is how much it costs. I guess theme decks are still the best thing for that purpose.

I didn't actually know this game had new mechanics other than the 'Mysterious Pullblox' mode, I never got far enough into it to find that out. It's a great game in a great series but puzzle games like this feel better suited to handhelds, and this one doesn't do anything massively different to the original game, which is why I haven't finished it. I do still go back to it and make some progress every now and then though.

By the way, @alanahagues, that My Nintendo discount isn't available any more (none of the Wii U and 3DS discounts are, sadly).

I like Fire Emblem but haven't played any of the 3DS entries; I think I'm going to pass on this one though. The game being split into three separate purchases - and the existence of DLC on top of that - puts me off, so I'm just going to hope for a complete edition on Switch in the future, or maybe pick up Birthright and/or Conquest physically at some point if they don't shoot up in price too much.

Anyway, this is a good idea for an article series. I've already made a list of final eShop purchases and I don't really want to add anything more to it for the sake of my wallet, but you may end up convincing me if you highlight some hidden gems in these articles.

Interesting that it's being made specifically for the Chinese market, I haven't heard of that happening before. Hopefully we'll get a chance to see it over here too.

(By the way, if you'll excuse me putting my pedant's hat on for a second, that's a 3DS in the foreground, not a DS Lite!)

SNES because I often boot up Mario's Super Picross when I have a few minutes to kill. I don't have the expansion pass currently but it's starting to seem worth it now so I'll likely upgrade eventually. Not super keen on the subscription model but it does have its advantages, primarily being able to try out games I wouldn't have paid for individually.

It seems I'm in the minority voting for the Wii, and I'll admit I'm definitely biased because I grew up with it, but how could I not choose the console that gave the world Xenoblade Chronicles, two of the greatest 3D platformers of all time in the Galaxy games (plus NSMB Wii, which I have a soft spot for), two great Zeldas, the best WarioWare, and the all-time classic Wii Sports Resort? GameCube comes close, but Mario Sunshine can't hold a candle to Galaxy.

I usually give my characters a name (often quite a silly one) in RPGs, but Link is just Link to me, it feels wrong calling him anything else.

Fi and Linebeck should be swapped if you ask me; Fi looks cool but she's one of the most boring characters in any Zelda game, while Linebeck is hilarious and one of the most memorable parts of Phantom Hourglass.

I miss having companions in Zelda games honestly, I hope they come back in the future.

No one's going to mention the fact the cheese pizza comes with 'sweet sprinkles'?

@Maxz Agreed, AC music doesn't get quite as much attention as tunes from Mario and Zelda and the like, but I think New Leaf in particular has one of Nintendo's best ever soundtracks. 8PM is beautiful as well, it's more of a traditional piece that's similar to the title theme, but it sounds so bittersweet and nostalgic.

The music that plays in Max's safehouse from Astral Chain, which is just a room where you can hang out with the cats you've rescued throughout the game, is badass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlcZmA7aEJc

And this one maybe doesn't 'go hard' in the same way but 7PM from Animal Crossing New Leaf is surprisingly emotional: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYNjxk6iIL0

I didn't even know this was a series, I've just played a bit of the original game on Switch Online. It's cool that they're going all out with a physical release and even a collector's edition for such obscure retro games.

The Wii version is crazy expensive now so that's good news!

That's really cool, it looks like the original De Blob's gameplay style would have translated surprisingly well to the DS.

I quite like some of the fish Pokemon so I was expecting to disagree with this, but that's a good point that they usually feel disconnected from actual fish-like habitats. New Pokemon Snap did a good job of showing them as proper marine creatures though, as another comment mentioned.

Also I just want to say, as a reader of ONM back in the day it always makes me smile seeing entertaining and weirdly specific articles like this pop up on the homepage (usually from Kate, but other writers too)

I got 22/24 - it's fair enough I got the Oddworld one wrong because I don't follow that series so I didn't know there was a remake. But come on, you can still play Overwatch 2 on the Switch and that's basically the same game as Overwatch 1!

I still haven't done all the shrines or side quests in BotW so I'd like to go back to that. Not sure I'll actually be able to do all of it before TotK releases without getting burned out but I'll try and make some progress at least.

Happy Christmas/holiday/Sunday everyone!

@Krisi Thanks, sounds like the full version will be worth it then once the microtransactions are gone.

@bonjong23 I forgot there was a free version but as nhSnork, there's also a paid version which has a physical release. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is though.

Maybe I'll buy the game now!

I think that's a good move to keep the series fresh, but wow it feels odd for the main character to leave after 25 years.

Not my thing, but good news for those who've been wanting it. It would be cool if they made bespoke Switch versions of the games with their own features. That was a cool thing that third parties used to do on Wii and DS but doesn't really happen any more.

@Anti-Matter Yeah that's pretty good! I've never played DDR, looks fun though.

I recently booted up an old Just Dance game for the first time in years and was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. So I might pick up some more games from the series, but I'll probably just stick with the old Wii and Wii U ones. As much as I love Toxic and Telephone, it doesn't seem worth splashing out 50 quid on a digital-only game that requires an internet connection and has a lot of songs locked behind a further paywall, when I could probably get the Wii games for about £1 each.

I actually booted up Just Dance 4 again recently (the only game in the series that I've played) and it is genuinely a really fun game with some great songs.

Nintendo Land is obviously the best launch game I've played though. It's so creative with its Gamepad usage and has a brilliant mix of multiplayer and solo games.

Got my hopes up a bit seeing 'game modes' in the title when it's just stuff we already knew about - the Big Run thing should be fun but I still feel Splatoon 3 is lacking its own brand new mode that's playable all the time rather than just during certain events. But still, looking forward to the new stages and weapons.

It's the only game I've played from this list but the music levels in Rayman Legends are the best part of the game. It's so satisfying jumping over chasms and punching skeletons to the beat of a kazoo rendition of Eye of the Tiger.