Dogorilla

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.

Nice, I've never played anything else like this game so it's cool that it's getting new content after all these years. Just a shame I probably won't be able to play it without re-buying the game, since I only have it on Wii U.

Star Fox Zero is honestly worth a look. Not everyone likes the controls but it was an attempt at using the Gamepad in a unique way, which is always worth celebrating if you ask me. And the game is cheap as chips now so you might as well see what you think of it. I've yet to play Star Fox Guard myself but I've heard that's good too.

I've never even heard of this game but this is a lovely article, it's always nice to see forgotten gems get a new wave of appreciation. Although I'm not sure why EA put 'Includes DODGEBALL' on the boxart as if that was a selling point they were desperate to get across.

I saw this on the news page earlier so opened the game for the first time in a while to do the raid, and it was worth doing for the items but I was disappointed you can't catch the Pokemon, seeing as you can normally only get one of the two without trading. And the raid battle system was a good idea but in practice they're pretty dull, I hope they're improved in Scarlet and Violet.

I think Pit would love Smash Mouth.

I don't think this game is really for me but I'm very slightly more interested now I've seen the line 'I literally know a wizard, Mickey.' I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Kate would have written as the caption for that image if it wasn't already a dialogue option.

If I have to choose just one I'll say You Will Know Our Names from Xenoblade Chronicles. Absolute banger that makes you feel like a legend even when all you're doing is waiting to activate moves on cooldown timers.

Layton is one of my absolute favourite game series and it's sad to see it fizzle out. To the developers' credit, Azran Legacy was originally supposed to be the last Layton game, and choosing to end the series after two strong trilogies was a respectable move. But the Katrielle game showed they still had an interest in continuing the overall franchise, and for all that game's faults I would have loved to see Kat's search for her father continue.

'we highly doubt that Illumination would want to make a movie that's just a man talking to weird little mushroom men for two hours'

Isn't that basically what Despicable Me is?

That's a real shame. I have this game and it's already difficult to find players online but it's really fun when you do find a match. At least it will still be playable offline.

I just know Fandom as that company that makes every wiki really annoying to browse, so this doesn't seem like great news.

Knowing we're due for a trailer for the movie soon, that thumbnail and headline scared me for a second...

Love the Mel Gibson analogy!

I'm not the biggest Ed Sheeran fan but he's absolutely right that Pokemon black for the DS is wicked.

I know nothing about Fist of the North Star so I don't intend to buy this but it's one of my favourite announcements from the Direct just for the absurdity of it

Looks beautiful, and seems to be the clearest indication yet that a lot of this game will take place in the sky

I was thinking of buying this game when the golf was added because I thought it would have new courses, so it's a bit disappointing it's just the same ones from Wii Sports Resort. Admittedly the new backgrounds look good and the survival mode is probably fun but when I've still got my Wii plugged in this doesn't really seem worth buying.

Shouldn't this come under the Crab News tag?

I'm also a little disappointed at the lack of a substantial new mode to really differentiate it from Splatoon 2, but I'm looking forward to playing the new story mode and the card game.

To be honest I'm more surprised that vinyl is above Playstation and CDs and DVDs are above Xbox. I still buy CDs and DVDs but a lot of people seem to consider them obsolete now.

I've beaten 3D World's final level on Wii U but somehow still haven't managed to finish the equivalent level in 3D Land.

From this list I've also beaten Metroid Dread, Hollow Knight, Celeste (with all strawberries and B-sides, though I'm still working on the final C-side), Tropical Freeze (100%, though not 200%) and Thumper but, like @sketchturner, Baba Is You broke my brain before I could even get close to finishing it.

I prefer Japan's cheerier turtles but I voted for the NA/EU art thanks to its crazy background.

If that's the case I don't get why Nintendo consistently referred to Shiver with gender-neutral pronouns in ALL languages while using gendered pronouns for other characters.

I always thought it was a smile. It's weird that they removed the beard but still used it in Smash Bros and on the Minecraft box art and stuff - I hadn't actually realised they'd got rid of it in the game.

Gen 5 has by far the best story of course but I'd say Gen 7 should be second. (Or at least the original Sun/Moon should be; IIRC they changed the storyline for the worse in the Ultra versions.) Team Skull is easily one of the best 'evil' teams.

Shame, but presumably the main stages will still be playable?

I like how you made a Pokemon pun on the word gloom even though there is literally a Pokemon called Gloom. 'Not all Houndoom and Gloom', surely?