Duncanballs

@Anti-Matter zero support because you dont have a SW2 don't you mean?

Played Rebirth on both a gaming PC and Steamdeck. Knowing how well it could run and look from experience, SD did a good job.

Its a demanding game but on balance and seeing what they have achieved with Remake, SW2 should run it well. Its good to hear the time being put in to optimise.

A lot of unknowns thus far but I'm not worried. Mario Tennis and DQ7 as my immediate thoughts on the radar and firmly on the list.

Putting my wishlist together for the year .....

Monoliths New IP
New 3D Mario
Metaphor
Halo Collection
Mass Effect Trilogy
Forza
Starfield
Chrono Trigger Remake
Dreamcast on NSO
Some mouse controlled games ...... City Skylines Remastered, Command and Conquer Remastered, Age of Empires 3, all of the Monkey Island games

Edit ..... im not putting DQ12 on that list just to torture myself 😃

@cvrator thats what I am hoping for this year with whatever Monolith have been up to. People are getting too panicky early in the year when we know and as per your example, we could get some surprises and short release windows.

My son is into his 3d printing and has made all manner of things for the Switch and Switch 2. Im still amazed every day as to what you can actually print. Its a great hobby.

Im not going to lose sleep over censorship of this kind on this example or any other games.

However, Nintendo needs to be consistent with its approach across all games/eshop but it is unclear as to who drove this decision in fairness.

Not for me personally but I have two teenagers in my house looking forward to it with both being fans of the 3DS version.

What in the £%#@ happened here????

We are all people who like gaming. Nothing more, nothing less.

I only thought the other day that a colour filter akin to the Gameboy colour scheme would be good. Less stressful than the stark red on the eye IMO.

I think Nintendo somewhat dropped the ball in not having this available for launch.

@Styrophoamicus I miss that channel "Ive never played baseball before, but I'm going to give it everything Ive got" 😃

I did own a Virtual Boy for a short amount of time. I can't fully remember the games but from memory I liked Tennis and Wario Land.

Not desperate to jump back in due to the cost of peripherals but wouldn't mind at some point.

If you are interested in Nintendos history, it's something on the list you should experience if you want to spend the cash. Early 3d/vr.

@sikthvash I'm placing a bet on A Link to the Past getting the Links Awakening treatment at some point before the next mainline Zelda release.

@OldGamer999 well fingers crossed for this direct to be true. They have in the past though, announced some absolute belters in summer for winter release so it's likely a part 1, part 2 situation. Granted though, I would expect a 3d Mario even with an end of year date to be part 1.

Anyone stressing about this years release schedule so far, give it a bit more time. The big N doesn't announce years in advance except for MP4.

Of all things this year my wishlist and not too unrealistic IMO is whatever Monolith has been upto and a new 3d Mario.

Resisting FF7 for the mo to keep time free for DQ7.

Its wet and cold in the UK at the moment (South West) so probably a weekend inside. Really enjoying my retro bits of late like the C64 and Amiga so probably some bits on that ..... patiently waiting for the Quickshot 2 Joystick next week. The Amiga is in my top 3 of all time including the SNES and Gamecube. SW1 / SW2 very close at 4th. 😃

If I get time, a bit more of Ghost Squad and HOTD on Wii this weekend maybe.

Happy gaming people.

Edit .... im going to get the SW2 Animal Crossing update for my son today as he is really enjoying it again and it's only just over £4.

@WiltonRoots not long now

Good to see AC back up there. I haven't touched it since I lost my island back in 2022 due messing up my system transfer when I went to OLED. Starting again yesterday is a bit of a grind but I am time skipping the early unlocks. I didnt mind paying the modest £4 SW2 upgrade ...... its about the price of a coffee in most places in the UK.

Will be interesting to see how FF7 fairs next week. Obviously it's been out for 5 years elsewhere but the Japanese like the handheld form factor.

Im expecting DQ7 to do well when it lands.

@Anti-Matter good call. As you dont have a Switch 2, why would you get it? 🤔

@Lord They will no doubt have legs and could finish up on the gen at 3-5 million of which, is no flop by any means.

I didnt finish Rebirth on PC so hoping we will see it by the end of the year.

Saying that, Im still hopeful that I maybe too busy this winter for anything else because Monolith's next belter of a game is out 🤞

Ive made my peace with the chances of DQ12 appearing this year.

@Anti-Matter thanks for telling us again. I dont think anyone was aware of your position 👍

Ubisoft are famous for their neverending list of cancellations. Top tip Ubisoft, finish a game that you started and maybe you might make some money back.

They might as well bin Beyond Good and Evil at this point. Probably should have at least 5 years ago.

This will be a 3rd runthrough for me and I am up for it.

Not only do I want to play this again, Im also happy to support good quality ports on SW2.

@Oldstalk they must have some good Crystal Balls. They should buy a lottery ticket 😀

@WiltonRoots agreed on the random encounters. One of the only few old school elements I dont miss.

Can't wait to get this ..... its just the debate when it arrives to either pick up where I left off or start again. Its only 5 hours or so but I search every nook and cranny on these games and it's whether I want to do that again.

Top tip, if you are like me and search every corner, you normally dont need to buy much armour and weapons at shops as a lot can be found in chests. I tend to complete an area and go shopping after I leave for anything I didn't get for free.

@sportymariosonicmixx not a fan of IGNs interface. Its messy to say the least.

@sportymariosonicmixx some fair points. In truth, I haven't read much on IGN in years. Not the site it was.

@sportymariosonicmixx unless there is any sarcasm I'm missing in your comment, there is a link in the article to IGNs original review where they gave it a 3.

Between games at the mo so looking for something different for the weekend.

Ive got a hankering for some lightgun games so I might fire up the Wii for Ghostsquad and House of the Dead.

As I have 3 CRTs, I really should get an OG PS2 at somepoint. Probably the best platform for the most variety of lightgun games including backwards compatibility with PS1.

If it's stable for a game like this, I can hardly tell the difference between 30 and 60 FPS.

I think the biggest concern would be that someone actually buys this game at those prices.

As per my comments above, very tempted and hopefully it will go on sale soon.

Whilst we are on this genre, Star Wars Squadrons on Switch 2 anyone?

@gb_nes_gamer I will definitely give it a go at somepoint though I am swayed slightly towards PC to use a flight stick.

F22 from memory was good on the Megadrive.

@gb_nes_gamer I really should give this a go. I used to love F18 interceptor on the Amiga in the 80s.

Switch 2 Pro rumours starting early this gen

@Strawblaze I think as you have highlighted, the longevity may be more specific to certain hardware rather than a general rule.

Im possibly thinking more on a few gens back of simplistic boards and carts.

Long live the concept of keeping these things going. Time will tell as to which will survive and which won't.

Some things are made better today, somethings are not.

@Strawblaze I've raised this point a few times before.

However, I think the situation is much different now. Today's tech is not built to last and considerably more complex.

Unfortunately as a more generalised view of the world, consumer products are now made with a short life in mind and routine replacement is the norm.

We've lost the make do and mend of old.

@SuppressorSteve I'm sure all of those would do rather well on SW2.

Im hoping at the next direct, Microsoft starts to deliver on a lot of its talk from recent years.

As always, the more games, the better 👍

Like stocks and shares, I'm in it for the long game with Switch 2. 👍

What is not mentioned is that stock is up 6.62% on January 2025.

@Pillowpants glad to hear. Timesinks but great games. Some say dated when it comes to DQ but for me, that is some of it's charm.

@Teksette if you can't motivate them, 2 hours on your own in a cinema not having to share your popcorn, is no bad thing 😃👍

@shgamer all good choices but Ghosts and Ghoblins is the old equivalent of Elden Ring. I have neither the dexterity or patience these days for uber difficult ..... Great game though 👍

Finished the rather excellent demo of FF7 reimagined so back to my 2nd runthrough of TOTK.

My copy of the Amiga Compendium by Bitmap Books arrived this week so some evening reading ahead.

Might take my daughter this evening to the cinema for a 40th anniversary showing of Labyrinth.

As I said on another thread, I do quite like the look of the black joycons as they are but I wouldn't say no to some transparent shells in a dark grey with subtle accents of colour.

@Anti-Matter they won't connect to a Switch 1. Just saying 🙃

Not great on first attempt but as history proved on SW1, this won't be the only edition of Joycons that the big N will release and we did see the odd meh effort then.

In all honesty, I like the current all black aesthetic of the SW2 with subtle colour hints. Each to their own.

AI the modern equivalent of what advances in production manufacturing did to manual labour of making things.

We've been here before people and we will again.

Say what you will about Microsoft, but I am keen for a few franchises to make their way to Switch 2.

More so, Halo, Forza, Gears of War and the latest Psychonauts. I would also add Starfield. It didnt live up to its promise but was still good IMO and I would enjoy a handheld version maybe more.

January/February Direct maybe???

I couldn't wait until the weekend so dived in and about an hour under my belt.

Im a little done with the often popular chibi style and diorama approach to these classics but in this example it's really nicely done.

Great voice acting and a very dragon quest esq orchestral score.

Performance appears flawless on SW2 so far and it's quite stunning visually.

Gameplay and dialogue is very classic DQ although I do note a bit of hand holding so far but I think thats by design for the opening part.

Controls are good and in particular the camera rotation is nice.

Overall, Ive got no reason to question my pre order and thoroughly looking forward to it.

As a fan of the series, I quite quickly felt like I was about to embark on a grand fantasy adventure and it felt very Dragon Quest ..... and thats a good thing 👍

...... possibly my older eyes, but if I was to give the most minor quibble, would be nice to have a zoom in function for some of the areas. That's mainly from a handheld perspective. Text size is fine, just sometimes feels just a smidgen too far zoomed out. Ill adapt.

Happy questing people.

@NintendoWife you raise a point I have often mulled over, the hardware!

Whilst not a given, modern tech doesn't last as long as it used to. So some may be in a position in 20-30 years time of owning the physical media but the hardware died a long time ago.

Having been a gamer from the 80s, I must have played 1000's of games in my time. I wager that of those, I only go back to about 5-10% of them. Most are available digitally in some shape or form.

Yes, I'm paying twice and yes not everything is available but from experience of gaming over 40 years, most games I want to revisit, I can.