It's very doubtful Water World comes to the service, but I could definitely see the others. And maybe even Bound High, which is another unreleased game
I've finished Groove to the extent I'm happy with. I got every rainbow perfect and night mode star, I got maximum completion in Beatspell, all rings for the multiplayer games, and the gold medals on Score Attack. The only thing I didn't strive to complete was the Drum Lessons because they get too difficult.
Overall a fantastic entry in the Rhythm Paradise series. Super pleased with it. And definitely deserving of these good sales numbers!
Weird. I'm not too familiar with Trails yet (I plan to play them all at some point), but aren't these the sorts of localisation decisions that get made before the game comes out? Where did these original incorrect terms come from in the first place, and why were they put in the game if they were going to change them afterwards anyway?
My guess for the next challenge, it would have to be something that has games on the NSO classic apps as well as a new Switch 2 game.
They could do a Kirby challenge with Star Crossed World as the Switch 2 game. Either that or Kirby Air Riders.
They could do a Metroid challenge with Metroid Prime 4 as the Switch 2 game.
They could do a Legend of Zelda challenge with the upcoming Ocarina of Time as the Switch 2 game.
I don't foresee them doing a challenge like the DK challenge for games that don't have the catalogue of classic titles available on the NSO apps, since having the two halves seems to be an important part of it, for whatever reason.
I did most of the DK Challenge soon after it first arrived, with the exception of the final two challenges (the ones that require you to remove all your upgrades).
After seeing this, it reminded me to give the final two challenges another chance, and.... I just managed to complete them a few moments ago.
But it's all moot anyway since I don't live in the US so I'm not getting these cards regardless. But I do feel oddly satisfied in having completed the full challenge just in time.
just judging the screenshots at a glance, I think the pixel art style is the wrong choice for a game trying to look like LCD handheld toys? Have you ever actually looked closely at a Game & Watch or a Tiger toy? Those LCD illustrations are NOT pixelated, they can be surprisingly detailed actually.
This game and Zero Racers are Nintendo's first subscription-exclusive games, right?
Star Fox 2 was released on the SNES Mini, and EarthBound Beginnings got a Wii U Virtual Console release (and has always existed physically in Japan).
(EDIT: actually, I forgot about Satellaview! So it's not Nintendo's first, but my following musings remain relevant)
It's in a bit of a weird grey area - most retro fans have no problems using roms found online for out-of-print old games. I mean, that's how I first played VB Wario Land well before Nintendo's weird VB NSO solution existed.
And before NSO, no Nintendo fan would ever blame a fellow fan for emulating VB games, because the only other option for the longest time was to play on the real thing, which just isn't feasible.
But now we have two new games for the VB NSO. The roms have already appeared on various sites... ...so what is the generally accepted opinion among fans about playing them without a subscription, using a VB emulator?
Is it akin to downloading old VB roms, and it's "fine"? Or is it akin to downloading a pirated Super Mario Odyssey and playing it on a Switch emulator?
The fact of the matter is, the VB roms for Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers that the fans have extracted from the NSO app are fully compatible with the old VB emulators. It's not like the English Fire Emblem 1 that requires Switch emulator to play. And they are formerly lost media from the 90s, they aren't newly-made for 2026 like Earthion, for example, which is the brand new Mega Drive shmup that is being sold on Steam as a new game despite also being a mega drive rom.
It's so weird to think about!! This is such a weird thing for Nintendo to do!
I kind of hate subscription-exclusive content, so I am super glad that the games are "available" as roms if you can find them "somewhere". That's my stance. But I don't blame anyone whose stance is that, no, this is a fundamentally different situation, and you should have to jump through Nintendo's hoops if you want to play these two.
@Bunkerneath
You get Ricky if you don't get either of the other flutes in time.
You get Dimitri if you win the flute as a prize from Subrosian Dancing, and you get Moosh if you buy the flute from the Horon Village shop.
with Oracle of Ages, the principle is the same, but they are swapped around. Moosh is the default, Dimitri's flute is bought from Lynna City shop, and Ricky's flute is won from the shooting gallery minigame.
Nintendo's modus operandi of needing to have full control over every aspect of their products does not mesh well with this ideal of becoming ubiquitous, I think.
I remember a long time ago reading something about how Miyamoto wished that Nintendo were the ones who came up with Minecraft. and....... all I could think about was, wow, what a much much much worse world we would be living in if that was the case. Minecraft has evolved into a ubiquitous platform for infinite creativity. and if Nintendo owned it, it would be a dead Wii U game by now, with maybe a couple of enthusiasts still playing. Because they would not allow it the freedom to evolve in the way it has.
once the update is out, I imagine the VB roms will be ripped from the app as soon as possible right. It would be interesting if they could make reproduction carts for play on an actual VB using the roms
That's cool. I played Croc 2 on the PS1 last year and it was good but not, like, outstanding or anything.
Some levels were definitely frustrating - I'm thinking of Roger Red Ant, which is such a long level, and Snowball Madness, which is just kinda jank to control.
Overall it's a decently fun game. I think I prefer the original Croc 1 but maybe that's just my bias speaking, because Croc 1 was my first 3D platformer ever as a child, whereas I only played Croc 2 around a year ago.
I hope they release a Croc 1+2 bundle and include the Game Boy Color ROMs plus maybe even the J2ME mobile games too if we're lucky. That'd be a nice package if they could manage it.
It's been nothing but Rhythm Paradise Groove for me ever since it came out. I'm aiming for 100% completion, currently working on the rainbow perfects. I'm already fully done with Beatspell, and I even cleared the secret mode with 5 stars.
I don't know what I'm gonna do about the drum lessons though. Those look insane to get S ranks for, and just looking at Otherworldly Skill makes me not want to even try.
I loaded up my GBA cart of Rhythm Tengoku to check, and I never even did the drum lessons on GBA either despite getting all perfects in the main games. So idk what I'm gonna do in Groove. We'll see how I feel after getting all rainbow perfects.
Huge fan of Rhythm Heaven, and I'm super glad that Tsunku was able to recover and make a new entry for all of us. This game is one of the best in the series, and I hope for much more Rhythm Heaven flavoured goodness in the future too. (perhaps a Beatspell standalone game? am I allowed to dream such things?)
@Dalamar Nihon Falcom games tend to take a while to arrive outside of Japan. Most Japanese developers these days do the translation work concurrently with the main game development, but it seems Nihon Falcom still do things the old fashioned way and start localisation after the Japanese version is done. At least that's what it seems like.
As much as I like Mother 3, this is a very bizarre piece of merch. Not sure it looks great to be honest. Though I'm not really someone who cares about watches in the first place, so who am I to say anything.
The Mother 3 GBA Micro was also a weird thing, with a design that made it intentionally look like it had wear and tear.
is multiplayer mode being removed? in that case, i've stopped caring. remakes should never remove features from the originals unless absolutely necessary. Not just due to lazy developers. Namco have screwed up several remasters now including Baten Kaitos removing the English dub for no reason.
if Smash does get a 3D entry, they'd have to reassure fans that, either a new 2D smash is on the way too, or this game will still have a 2D mode in it. Otherwise it risks suffering from the Metroid Federation Force / Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts problem of fans being unwilling to accept new gameplay of their beloved series, no matter how well-made it ends up being.
...ok so the pop-in for background objects in the Switch version was bugging me quite a bit. If I have to buy the game again on Switch 2, just to play a version without as much pop-in, that's really annoying.
oh, not all content is out yet? ok then i won't buy it until later, thanks square enix.
...I always dislike returning to a jrpg after the fact just to play one new sidequest, or meet one new character, because getting back into the swing of things from completed save data from a long time ago is so disorienting. Xenoblade 3 was like that for me when they added new party members. And I didn't even get to really use them since, you know, I had already finished the game.
Generally, when it comes to modern games now, I think I just want to wait until the full game is out before I even begin playing. There's too much in the backlog now for me to be super duper excited about playing the newest Octopath straight away. And my backlog includes Octopath 2, too, so if I am craving Octopath in particular, I still can wait before getting 0
some of the fandom's theorycrafters and lore enthusiasts were expressing disappointment that the 5th chapter was particularly light on lore in order to focus on silly character dynamics.
the new obscure dialogue is actually quite interesting for lore / theory people, so i guess this update was maybe in response to the fans clamouring for lore morsels
@KingMike Yes, both Sword of Hope games are now on NSO. The first game is rather annoying because the damage rolls have such huge variance. An enemy attack can randomly do 7 damage or 50 damage, just from pure luck of the roll. I feel like the combat boils down to luck quite often, especially in the final area. with NSO, the ability to rewind makes the game more enjoyable.
The second Sword of Hope, which was just added to NSO, does not have this problem, but it is still a rather slow-paced adventure that I wouldn't say holds up well when there are lots of other great retro style RPGs to play nowadays.
Yeah, the Game Boy did have its fair share of RPGs, though I am not so well versed in them. I did get the Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend from the eShop - I played and beat the first one, but did not return for the second or third ones yet.
Interesting fun fact about Game Boy RPGs - so, Tomato Adventure just got released on the Japanese NSO, right? Well, one of the things learned via the Nintendo "gigaleak" that occurred a few years ago, there exists an unreleased rom for "Gimmick Land", which is a Game Boy Color version of Tomato Adventure. It turns out that Tomato Adventure was originally a GBC game, before Nintendo decided to scrap it and told Alpha Dream to remake it for GBA instead. The unreleased ROM is pretty much fully complete too.
When a microtransaction-laden mobile game shuts down, they don't refund all of your money you wasted into it do they lol. Why are mobile games still lucrative when it's been shown time and time again that any money spent on a mobile game is money wasted?
Sword of Hope II is better than the first one, but I still wouldn't recommend it.
Tomato Adventure, though, is pretty fun, though maybe not recommended if you aren't okay with mashing the A button really fast, some of those Gimmick attacks are rough.
That is most certainly not the Japanese box art lol. That's the Korean box. The Minna no Rhythm Tengoku box art has a taller logo to accommodate the longer name so I think it would be worth it to include it? (or at least not present the korean box as if it were japanese for some reason??)
Anyways. I have huge affinity towards the Beat the Beat box art because I love the game and that's the one I'm most familiar with. I think the USA Fever box art is a bit cluttered tbh.
Prime 4 was a complete disaster in my eyes. Maybe with that prolonged trainwreck behind us, Nintendo can look forward and focus on redeeming Metroid with new entries with thoughtful, interesting game design which don't take decades to come out.
@Dark_Isatari If you like Undertale, I really see no reason to not dive into Deltarune.
The only reason that makes sense to me is for those who want to wait for the full game to be out before they begin.
Deltarune has got the same amazing Toby Fox character writing, sense of humour, and musical mastery that Undertale demonstrates, but with many years more game dev experience. And in the form of a much longer game with better gameplay design too.
@samurro It's a pixel RPG with really funny dialogue, and very well-written characters with interesting stories and character development.
It's mostly a funny game, but it also does take its own plot seriously enough when it needs to. The story is fascinating and goes in very unexpected directions.
The combat uses a unique "bullet-hell" style of dodging enemy projectiles, and every single enemy has bespoke patterns of bullets to dodge.
And the game has a whole lot of subversion of expectations, especially for people who are familiar with RPG tropes. What it means to fight enemies, to "become stronger", and even the very notion of what it means to control a player character in the first place, are brought into question.
If this sounds interesting, the free demo on the eShop contains both chapters 1 and 2. it's a very generous demo. You will definitely know if you click with it by the time the demo is over.
@FawfulsFury I'm not sure which parts you're referring to.
If you mean the fact that Susie and Ralsei can't ACT in chapter 1, then yes, that is a plot point addressed later.
And I know that the lack of a light world save point in chapter 1 was also done for a lore reason, which Toby finally gave in for later chapters because playtesters complained. But chapter 1 still lacks it.
But I'm thinking of things like:
The "Target" box that appears around your party only in chapter 1. I think later chapters have a different method to determine who takes damage.
The lack of a Mercy meter on enemies, and the lack of descriptions for ACTs (example: "CHECK: Useless analysis")
No need to time Rude Buster properly to get the damage buff, you can just mash the button and it works. In later chapters you do have to press the button with good timing.
Clover doesn't get three little head sprites when talking like she does in later chapters. a shame because this is the only chapter she is a mandatory encounter.
you know, just little things that make the game feel a bit incongruous with what came afterwards.
I've been eyeing two recent releases. Not sure which one to play next. So...I want to hear some opinions from commenters here. I am a huge fan of classic Legend of Zelda. ... Should I go for Adventures of Elliot, or Mina the Hollower? Which one should be the priority?
The increase in quality is so evident in the newer chapters. Kind of makes me wish that, once the game is finished, they should go back and revamp the visuals and mechanics of chapter 1 to better match the newer ones more. It's starting to feel out of place, which is a shame since it is the first impression.
I think the success of Sonic Generations gave Sega a weird obsession with dividing the Sonic series into "Classic" and "Modern"... for no real benefit imo.
The fact that certain characters like Shadow are banned from existing within the "Classic" universe, and certain classic characters like Mighty are not allowed to be seen in the "Modern" universe is just needlessly restrictive. and confusing. Because most fans aren't keeping track of this stuff at all.
Especially when you consider that the only reason the Chaotix crew is allowed to exist in the modern games is because they decided to bring them back for Sonic Heroes, which was before such a divide existed.
The fact that they are literally releasing a product with the title "Modern Sonic Collection" is really funny. Because that's such a weird and awful way to name something that only makes sense to someone who's already deep in the mindset of there HAVING to be this divide between two separate styles of Sonic.
And including a 2023 game in a "Classic" bundle comes from the same mindset too.
I played the demo and I loved it as expected. Got all the medals for the four games plus remix, as well as playing the single co-op minigame by myself. ...haha, that's how I did all the multiplayer games on Wii, all by myself with a wiimote in each hand lol.
Sonic Mania was just... so good. I'm simultaneously shocked and not surprised in the least that Sega didn't immediately greenlight a sequel. It would have been perfect, but Sega is the reigning grand champion of shooting themselves in the foot. ... And of course the Sonic Mania artists completely nailed the cover artwork too.
@KingMike as far as I know, the golden tap trophy in Space Station Silicon Valley is bugged not only in both NTSC and PAL, but it's also bugged in the PAL exclusive PS1 version as well.
I remember there was a youtube video one of the developers found and explained it in the comment section - apparently the 3d model of the tap was used in another part of the level as regular terrain, but it was buggy. So they removed all collision from the 3d model and created custom collision around it. But they didn't realise that removing the collision from the 3d model would also remove it from the trophy that reused the same model. So the trophy is completely uncollectable since it has no collision at all.
The reward for 100% completion can be accessed via a cheat code, so it's not as huge a problem as it could have been.
When I bought Glover on Gog a while ago, it also did come with the PS1 rom as a bonus. I suppose this update is just to bring the Switch version up to parity with Gog.
That being said, when the time came to actually play Glover for myself, I actually played on original N64 hardware with a real cartridge, since I heard about all the issues the modern ports have.
....funnily enough the original N64 PAL version I played also has an issue with the volcano bonus stage, making it nigh impossible to get all the cards. I had to settle for 99% completion.
I never bought this game because the crossover stuff was unappealing to me.
I didn't like how they clearly only used the crossover characters as promotions, and did not care to make them feel like they truly belong in the game. No voices and no interactions. Just lifeless character models plonked into the roster for the pure sake of advertising.
How can you put a character like Spongebob Squarepants in your game and have him be entirely silent?? Spongebob needs his iconic laugh at the very least!
people who don't know about Rhythm Heaven vastly underestimate how much the fans of Rhythm Heaven love it to death. It's not just a "yeah it's a fun game" kind of love. it's a "WE NEED AS MUCH OF THIS TO EXIST AS WE CAN POSSIBLY GET!" kind of love
Doesn't Disney have strict character models regarding their classic characters that they wouldn't want third parties altering without approval? The number of fingers depicted on the hands of their characters is part of the character design. I wonder if this mistake could get them in trouble with Disney
I've been on a mission to actually play the games in my backlog. I've been focusing mainly on JRPGs (I spent most of 2023 playing Ys, and most of 2024 playing Suikoden), but after playing so many JRPGs in a row, you sometimes do need a break from them. So I picked Spyro 1 as my palette-cleanser, just some simple run-and-jump fun to play in between the big stories.
After playing Spyro 1 I was immediately compelled to start Spyro 2 because I was enjoying it quite a lot. and then.... it kind of just got out of hand from there.
I wanted to play the whole series because, I've only ever heard people talk about the original trilogy - I never hear people mention anything about any of the later Spyro games. It was as if the later games weren't even worth consideration. ...As a Sonic fan, I know that the "unpopular" games in a long-running series can sometimes be interesting in their own way. So I wanted to see for myself what was going on with the later games.
Would I say you're missing out? Mmm, as far as 3D platformers go, it's not better than Mario, and it's not better than Banjo Kazooie. It's definitely better than Croc. Maybe on par with Rayman? hahah. Idk. It's somewhere in that vicinity. It's pretty good. But it's not essential in this day and age. In its year of release, you definitely would be missing out by not playing it (I certainly did miss out), but nowadays, eh. Depends how interested in retro games you are.
Spyro 1 in particular feels like a very pure incarnation of a 3D platformer collectathon - it's just you and your base moveset, with very very few gimmicks to get in the way. And I'd actually say that Spyro 1 would be a great game for players who are new to 3D action games, due to its simplicity. It's now my go-to example of a no-frills 3D platformer that just does pure open-ended platforming really well.
Spyro 2 and 3 do heavily pile on the gimmicks and minigames though.
Last year I played through the entire Spyro series for the first time. Every single game all in a row. (with the exception of skylanders because i'm not getting into that whole schtick)
I really enjoyed the original Spyro trilogy, and I had a good time with the Reignited versions, though I think I prefer the PS1 originals overall.
Enter the Dragonfly was fun enough, but very much lacking compared to the trilogy.
A Hero's Tail was pretty fun except for the bosses, and except for Blink the Mole who is just not fun to play with.
The GBA games were actually pretty decent, I liked the more open-ended Spyro Adventure / Attack of the Rhynocs one. The Crash crossover GBA game was genuinely terrible though.
Shadow Legacy was also pretty bad.
And... the Legend of Spyro subseries... ranges from mediocre to terrible, without any of them really managing to be all that good.
... Overall I'd say I've become a fan of the series pretty quickly. I very much hope this new game takes from the original style of Spyro and leaves well alone the Legend of Spyro stuff.
Seeing the collectable gems in the background of the trailer is a good sign.
@JohnnyMind
Bear in mind that the NSO version of Rayman 2 doesn't save any data at all, since the NSO N64 app doesn't support emulation of the Controller Pak memory card for whatever reason.
This means that, if you beat the final boss, you will be stuck on the credits.
Because originally the game saves at the end of the credits and you get to reload your file to go back to the world map and look for any remaining collectibles you may have missed. But on NSO, since it doesn't save, if you make a save-state during the credits, you're stuck, and if you want all the collectibles, you'll have to avoid entering the final boss until you're ready to be done.
It honestly sucks that, not only does NSO not support the Controller Pak functionality, but Nintendo felt it was perfectly fine to release games that relied on it despite that.
Personally I would recommend getting the digital GOG version of Rayman 2. works on any decent PC, it's pretty cheap, and there are fan-made patches to add widescreen and fix framerate compatibility bugs and things like that.
Comments 2,643
Re: Every Nintendo Switch Online Virtual Boy Game Ranked
@BrazillianCara
It's very doubtful Water World comes to the service, but I could definitely see the others. And maybe even Bound High, which is another unreleased game
Re: Japanese Charts: Nintendo Continues To Dominate With Rhythm Heaven Groove
I've finished Groove to the extent I'm happy with. I got every rainbow perfect and night mode star, I got maximum completion in Beatspell, all rings for the multiplayer games, and the gold medals on Score Attack. The only thing I didn't strive to complete was the Drum Lessons because they get too difficult.
Overall a fantastic entry in the Rhythm Paradise series. Super pleased with it. And definitely deserving of these good sales numbers!
Re: Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter Rolls Out Legacy Patch, Here Are The Full Details
Weird. I'm not too familiar with Trails yet (I plan to play them all at some point), but aren't these the sorts of localisation decisions that get made before the game comes out? Where did these original incorrect terms come from in the first place, and why were they put in the game if they were going to change them afterwards anyway?
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: WarioWare Smooth Moves
Wow, it's a field of pink and gold.
Re: Switch Online's DK Challenge Now Offering Physical 39-Card Set Reward
@Sakura
My guess for the next challenge, it would have to be something that has games on the NSO classic apps as well as a new Switch 2 game.
They could do a Kirby challenge with Star Crossed World as the Switch 2 game. Either that or Kirby Air Riders.
They could do a Metroid challenge with Metroid Prime 4 as the Switch 2 game.
They could do a Legend of Zelda challenge with the upcoming Ocarina of Time as the Switch 2 game.
I don't foresee them doing a challenge like the DK challenge for games that don't have the catalogue of classic titles available on the NSO apps, since having the two halves seems to be an important part of it, for whatever reason.
Re: Switch Online's DK Challenge Now Offering Physical 39-Card Set Reward
I did most of the DK Challenge soon after it first arrived, with the exception of the final two challenges (the ones that require you to remove all your upgrades).
After seeing this, it reminded me to give the final two challenges another chance, and.... I just managed to complete them a few moments ago.
But it's all moot anyway since I don't live in the US so I'm not getting these cards regardless. But I do feel oddly satisfied in having completed the full challenge just in time.
Re: Mini Review: Dragon Hopper (Virtual Boy) - A Zelda-Like With Height, Heart, And A Spring In Its Step
@fluons
https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/tcb1bv/all_nintendo_switch_games_that_support_labo_vr/
There are a few, but not many.
Re: Mini Review: Future Knight (Switch) - Channels The Spirit Of Tiger Handhelds To Great Effect
just judging the screenshots at a glance, I think the pixel art style is the wrong choice for a game trying to look like LCD handheld toys?
Have you ever actually looked closely at a Game & Watch or a Tiger toy? Those LCD illustrations are NOT pixelated, they can be surprisingly detailed actually.
Re: Mini Review: Dragon Hopper (Virtual Boy) - A Zelda-Like With Height, Heart, And A Spring In Its Step
This game and Zero Racers are Nintendo's first subscription-exclusive games, right?
Star Fox 2 was released on the SNES Mini, and EarthBound Beginnings got a Wii U Virtual Console release (and has always existed physically in Japan).
(EDIT: actually, I forgot about Satellaview! So it's not Nintendo's first, but my following musings remain relevant)
It's in a bit of a weird grey area - most retro fans have no problems using roms found online for out-of-print old games. I mean, that's how I first played VB Wario Land well before Nintendo's weird VB NSO solution existed.
And before NSO, no Nintendo fan would ever blame a fellow fan for emulating VB games, because the only other option for the longest time was to play on the real thing, which just isn't feasible.
But now we have two new games for the VB NSO. The roms have already appeared on various sites... ...so what is the generally accepted opinion among fans about playing them without a subscription, using a VB emulator?
Is it akin to downloading old VB roms, and it's "fine"? Or is it akin to downloading a pirated Super Mario Odyssey and playing it on a Switch emulator?
The fact of the matter is, the VB roms for Dragon Hopper and Zero Racers that the fans have extracted from the NSO app are fully compatible with the old VB emulators. It's not like the English Fire Emblem 1 that requires Switch emulator to play. And they are formerly lost media from the 90s, they aren't newly-made for 2026 like Earthion, for example, which is the brand new Mega Drive shmup that is being sold on Steam as a new game despite also being a mega drive rom.
It's so weird to think about!! This is such a weird thing for Nintendo to do!
I kind of hate subscription-exclusive content, so I am super glad that the games are "available" as roms if you can find them "somewhere". That's my stance. But I don't blame anyone whose stance is that, no, this is a fundamentally different situation, and you should have to jump through Nintendo's hoops if you want to play these two.
Re: "I Threatened Him" - Capcom Producer's Radical Approach To Negotiating With Miyamoto
@Bunkerneath
You get Ricky if you don't get either of the other flutes in time.
You get Dimitri if you win the flute as a prize from Subrosian Dancing, and you get Moosh if you buy the flute from the Horon Village shop.
with Oracle of Ages, the principle is the same, but they are swapped around. Moosh is the default, Dimitri's flute is bought from Lynna City shop, and Ricky's flute is won from the shooting gallery minigame.
Re: Round Up: Game Freak's 'Beast Of Reincarnation' Is A Mixed Bag
The last time I remember Game Freak made a non-Pokémon game was with Little Town Hero, and that game got extremely mediocre reviews.
This one seems to be faring better, but I'm still seeing some mixed opinions from these reviews.
Re: Miyamoto Wants Nintendo Products To Be As Ubiquitous As School Bags
Nintendo's modus operandi of needing to have full control over every aspect of their products does not mesh well with this ideal of becoming ubiquitous, I think.
I remember a long time ago reading something about how Miyamoto wished that Nintendo were the ones who came up with Minecraft. and....... all I could think about was, wow, what a much much much worse world we would be living in if that was the case. Minecraft has evolved into a ubiquitous platform for infinite creativity. and if Nintendo owned it, it would be a dead Wii U game by now, with maybe a couple of enthusiasts still playing. Because they would not allow it the freedom to evolve in the way it has.
Re: Two Cancelled Virtual Boy Games Join 'Nintendo Classics' Next Week
once the update is out, I imagine the VB roms will be ripped from the app as soon as possible right. It would be interesting if they could make reproduction carts for play on an actual VB using the roms
Re: 'Croc 2' Is Getting The Remaster Treatment Later This Year
That's cool. I played Croc 2 on the PS1 last year and it was good but not, like, outstanding or anything.
Some levels were definitely frustrating - I'm thinking of Roger Red Ant, which is such a long level, and Snowball Madness, which is just kinda jank to control.
Overall it's a decently fun game. I think I prefer the original Croc 1 but maybe that's just my bias speaking, because Croc 1 was my first 3D platformer ever as a child, whereas I only played Croc 2 around a year ago.
I hope they release a Croc 1+2 bundle and include the Game Boy Color ROMs plus maybe even the J2ME mobile games too if we're lucky. That'd be a nice package if they could manage it.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (25th July)
It's been nothing but Rhythm Paradise Groove for me ever since it came out. I'm aiming for 100% completion, currently working on the rainbow perfects. I'm already fully done with Beatspell, and I even cleared the secret mode with 5 stars.
I don't know what I'm gonna do about the drum lessons though. Those look insane to get S ranks for, and just looking at Otherworldly Skill makes me not want to even try.
I loaded up my GBA cart of Rhythm Tengoku to check, and I never even did the drum lessons on GBA either despite getting all perfects in the main games. So idk what I'm gonna do in Groove. We'll see how I feel after getting all rainbow perfects.
Re: Rhythm Heaven Groove Producer Declined Offers To Make Similar Games Due To His "Indebtedness" To Nintendo
Huge fan of Rhythm Heaven, and I'm super glad that Tsunku was able to recover and make a new entry for all of us. This game is one of the best in the series, and I hope for much more Rhythm Heaven flavoured goodness in the future too. (perhaps a Beatspell standalone game? am I allowed to dream such things?)
Re: Japanese Charts: Rhythm Heaven Groove Maintains Its Solid Lead
@Dalamar
Nihon Falcom games tend to take a while to arrive outside of Japan. Most Japanese developers these days do the translation work concurrently with the main game development, but it seems Nihon Falcom still do things the old fashioned way and start localisation after the Japanese version is done. At least that's what it seems like.
Re: Casio Launches 'Mother 3' Watch For Game's 20th Anniversary
I don't wear a wristwatch.
I enjoy using my phone as a pocketwatch instead.
As much as I like Mother 3, this is a very bizarre piece of merch.
Not sure it looks great to be honest. Though I'm not really someone who cares about watches in the first place, so who am I to say anything.
The Mother 3 GBA Micro was also a weird thing, with a design that made it intentionally look like it had wear and tear.
Mother 3 continues to be weird I guess.
Re: Bandai Namco Reveals Changes & Improvements In Tales of Eternia Remastered
is multiplayer mode being removed? in that case, i've stopped caring. remakes should never remove features from the originals unless absolutely necessary. Not just due to lazy developers. Namco have screwed up several remasters now including Baten Kaitos removing the English dub for no reason.
Re: Mailbox: The Future Of Smash, Mouse Mode Upgrades, Revolutions - Nintendo Life Letters
if Smash does get a 3D entry, they'd have to reassure fans that, either a new 2D smash is on the way too, or this game will still have a 2D mode in it.
Otherwise it risks suffering from the Metroid Federation Force / Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts problem of fans being unwilling to accept new gameplay of their beloved series, no matter how well-made it ends up being.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Digimon World 4 (GameCube)
actual illustrations vs dated CG.
...the dorumon on the US cover looks like a weird donkey. but looks kinda cool on the JP cover.
Re: Once Upon A Katamari Is The Latest Game To Roll Onto Switch 2
...ok so the pop-in for background objects in the Switch version was bugging me quite a bit. If I have to buy the game again on Switch 2, just to play a version without as much pop-in, that's really annoying.
Re: Octopath Traveler 0 Update Adds New Town Resident And Foe Later This Year
oh, not all content is out yet? ok then i won't buy it until later, thanks square enix.
...I always dislike returning to a jrpg after the fact just to play one new sidequest, or meet one new character, because getting back into the swing of things from completed save data from a long time ago is so disorienting. Xenoblade 3 was like that for me when they added new party members. And I didn't even get to really use them since, you know, I had already finished the game.
Generally, when it comes to modern games now, I think I just want to wait until the full game is out before I even begin playing. There's too much in the backlog now for me to be super duper excited about playing the newest Octopath straight away. And my backlog includes Octopath 2, too, so if I am craving Octopath in particular, I still can wait before getting 0
Re: Japanese Charts: Holy Moly, Look At Those Rhythm Heaven Groove Sales
It's not just the Switch's swansong. It's the Switch's 80 swansongs + 30 multiplayer swansongs.
Re: Deltarune Chapter 5 Update Arrives On Switch 1 & 2 Soon, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
some of the fandom's theorycrafters and lore enthusiasts were expressing disappointment that the 5th chapter was particularly light on lore in order to focus on silly character dynamics.
the new obscure dialogue is actually quite interesting for lore / theory people, so i guess this update was maybe in response to the fans clamouring for lore morsels
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy & GBA Library With Four More Titles
@KingMike
Yes, both Sword of Hope games are now on NSO.
The first game is rather annoying because the damage rolls have such huge variance. An enemy attack can randomly do 7 damage or 50 damage, just from pure luck of the roll.
I feel like the combat boils down to luck quite often, especially in the final area. with NSO, the ability to rewind makes the game more enjoyable.
The second Sword of Hope, which was just added to NSO, does not have this problem, but it is still a rather slow-paced adventure that I wouldn't say holds up well when there are lots of other great retro style RPGs to play nowadays.
Yeah, the Game Boy did have its fair share of RPGs, though I am not so well versed in them. I did get the Collection of SaGa: Final Fantasy Legend from the eShop - I played and beat the first one, but did not return for the second or third ones yet.
Interesting fun fact about Game Boy RPGs - so, Tomato Adventure just got released on the Japanese NSO, right? Well, one of the things learned via the Nintendo "gigaleak" that occurred a few years ago, there exists an unreleased rom for "Gimmick Land", which is a Game Boy Color version of Tomato Adventure. It turns out that Tomato Adventure was originally a GBC game, before Nintendo decided to scrap it and told Alpha Dream to remake it for GBA instead. The unreleased ROM is pretty much fully complete too.
Re: Back Page: After 40 Years, It's High Time Link Got Some Pyjamas
every JRPG character sleeps in their normal outfit, even fully armoured characters. it's just, like, how it works.
Re: Mario Kart Tour Service Officially Ends This September
When a microtransaction-laden mobile game shuts down, they don't refund all of your money you wasted into it do they lol. Why are mobile games still lucrative when it's been shown time and time again that any money spent on a mobile game is money wasted?
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy & GBA Library With Four More Titles
Sword of Hope II is better than the first one, but I still wouldn't recommend it.
Tomato Adventure, though, is pretty fun, though maybe not recommended if you aren't okay with mashing the A button really fast, some of those Gimmick attacks are rough.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii)
That is most certainly not the Japanese box art lol. That's the Korean box. The Minna no Rhythm Tengoku box art has a taller logo to accommodate the longer name so I think it would be worth it to include it? (or at least not present the korean box as if it were japanese for some reason??)
Anyways. I have huge affinity towards the Beat the Beat box art because I love the game and that's the one I'm most familiar with. I think the USA Fever box art is a bit cluttered tbh.
Re: Rumour: Metroid Ravenous Might Not Be The Only Metroid Project In The Pipeline
Prime 4 was a complete disaster in my eyes.
Maybe with that prolonged trainwreck behind us, Nintendo can look forward and focus on redeeming Metroid with new entries with thoughtful, interesting game design which don't take decades to come out.
Re: PSA: Deltarune Chapter 5 Is Now Available For Switch 1 & 2, Crash Issue Identified
@Dark_Isatari
If you like Undertale, I really see no reason to not dive into Deltarune.
The only reason that makes sense to me is for those who want to wait for the full game to be out before they begin.
Deltarune has got the same amazing Toby Fox character writing, sense of humour, and musical mastery that Undertale demonstrates, but with many years more game dev experience. And in the form of a much longer game with better gameplay design too.
Re: PSA: Deltarune Chapter 5 Is Now Available For Switch 1 & 2, Crash Issue Identified
@samurro
It's a pixel RPG with really funny dialogue, and very well-written characters with interesting stories and character development.
It's mostly a funny game, but it also does take its own plot seriously enough when it needs to. The story is fascinating and goes in very unexpected directions.
The combat uses a unique "bullet-hell" style of dodging enemy projectiles, and every single enemy has bespoke patterns of bullets to dodge.
And the game has a whole lot of subversion of expectations, especially for people who are familiar with RPG tropes. What it means to fight enemies, to "become stronger", and even the very notion of what it means to control a player character in the first place, are brought into question.
If this sounds interesting, the free demo on the eShop contains both chapters 1 and 2. it's a very generous demo. You will definitely know if you click with it by the time the demo is over.
Re: PSA: Deltarune Chapter 5 Is Now Available For Switch 1 & 2, Crash Issue Identified
@FawfulsFury
I'm not sure which parts you're referring to.
If you mean the fact that Susie and Ralsei can't ACT in chapter 1, then yes, that is a plot point addressed later.
And I know that the lack of a light world save point in chapter 1 was also done for a lore reason, which Toby finally gave in for later chapters because playtesters complained. But chapter 1 still lacks it.
But I'm thinking of things like:
The "Target" box that appears around your party only in chapter 1. I think later chapters have a different method to determine who takes damage.
The lack of a Mercy meter on enemies, and the lack of descriptions for ACTs (example: "CHECK: Useless analysis")
No need to time Rude Buster properly to get the damage buff, you can just mash the button and it works. In later chapters you do have to press the button with good timing.
Clover doesn't get three little head sprites when talking like she does in later chapters. a shame because this is the only chapter she is a mandatory encounter.
you know, just little things that make the game feel a bit incongruous with what came afterwards.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (27th June)
I've been eyeing two recent releases. Not sure which one to play next.
So...I want to hear some opinions from commenters here.
I am a huge fan of classic Legend of Zelda. ... Should I go for Adventures of Elliot, or Mina the Hollower? Which one should be the priority?
Re: PSA: Deltarune Chapter 5 Is Now Available For Switch 1 & 2, Crash Issue Identified
The increase in quality is so evident in the newer chapters. Kind of makes me wish that, once the game is finished, they should go back and revamp the visuals and mechanics of chapter 1 to better match the newer ones more. It's starting to feel out of place, which is a shame since it is the first impression.
Re: Sonic Returns To His Roots With New Sega Genesis Cartridges
...you can go on ebay and get the original carts for way cheaper.
Re: Sega Announces Two Sonic Game Collections For Switch
I think the success of Sonic Generations gave Sega a weird obsession with dividing the Sonic series into "Classic" and "Modern"... for no real benefit imo.
The fact that certain characters like Shadow are banned from existing within the "Classic" universe, and certain classic characters like Mighty are not allowed to be seen in the "Modern" universe is just needlessly restrictive. and confusing. Because most fans aren't keeping track of this stuff at all.
Especially when you consider that the only reason the Chaotix crew is allowed to exist in the modern games is because they decided to bring them back for Sonic Heroes, which was before such a divide existed.
The fact that they are literally releasing a product with the title "Modern Sonic Collection" is really funny. Because that's such a weird and awful way to name something that only makes sense to someone who's already deep in the mindset of there HAVING to be this divide between two separate styles of Sonic.
And including a 2023 game in a "Classic" bundle comes from the same mindset too.
Re: Community: "All-Consuming, Joyous, Heartbreaking" - Your Nintendo 64 Memories
Yay, thanks for featuring me. I was the only one that mentioned Rakugakids by name, huh? haha.
Re: PSA: Rhythm Heaven Groove "Starter Demo" Now Available On Switch
I played the demo and I loved it as expected. Got all the medals for the four games plus remix, as well as playing the single co-op minigame by myself. ...haha, that's how I did all the multiplayer games on Wii, all by myself with a wiimote in each hand lol.
Can't wait for the full game to release.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Sonic The Hedgehog 35th Anniversary Switch Showdown
Sonic Mania was just... so good. I'm simultaneously shocked and not surprised in the least that Sega didn't immediately greenlight a sequel. It would have been perfect, but Sega is the reigning grand champion of shooting themselves in the foot. ...
And of course the Sonic Mania artists completely nailed the cover artwork too.
Re: Glover's Switch Release Is Adding The PlayStation Version In A Free Update
@KingMike as far as I know, the golden tap trophy in Space Station Silicon Valley is bugged not only in both NTSC and PAL, but it's also bugged in the PAL exclusive PS1 version as well.
I remember there was a youtube video one of the developers found and explained it in the comment section - apparently the 3d model of the tap was used in another part of the level as regular terrain, but it was buggy. So they removed all collision from the 3d model and created custom collision around it. But they didn't realise that removing the collision from the 3d model would also remove it from the trophy that reused the same model. So the trophy is completely uncollectable since it has no collision at all.
The reward for 100% completion can be accessed via a cheat code, so it's not as huge a problem as it could have been.
Re: Glover's Switch Release Is Adding The PlayStation Version In A Free Update
When I bought Glover on Gog a while ago, it also did come with the PS1 rom as a bonus. I suppose this update is just to bring the Switch version up to parity with Gog.
That being said, when the time came to actually play Glover for myself, I actually played on original N64 hardware with a real cartridge, since I heard about all the issues the modern ports have.
....funnily enough the original N64 PAL version I played also has an issue with the volcano bonus stage, making it nigh impossible to get all the cards. I had to settle for 99% completion.
Re: Sega Wants To Know Your Thoughts About Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
I never bought this game because the crossover stuff was unappealing to me.
I didn't like how they clearly only used the crossover characters as promotions, and did not care to make them feel like they truly belong in the game. No voices and no interactions. Just lifeless character models plonked into the roster for the pure sake of advertising.
How can you put a character like Spongebob Squarepants in your game and have him be entirely silent?? Spongebob needs his iconic laugh at the very least!
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D (3DS)
No contest for me, that Hyrule Field shot is still so beautiful.
Re: Preview: Yep, Rhythm Paradise Groove Is Another Rhythm Heaven Game (Good)
people who don't know about Rhythm Heaven vastly underestimate how much the fans of Rhythm Heaven love it to death. It's not just a "yeah it's a fun game" kind of love. it's a "WE NEED AS MUCH OF THIS TO EXIST AS WE CAN POSSIBLY GET!" kind of love
Re: Kingdom Hearts Collection Key Art Has Fans Sleuthing To Work Out If AI Was Used
Doesn't Disney have strict character models regarding their classic characters that they wouldn't want third parties altering without approval? The number of fingers depicted on the hands of their characters is part of the character design. I wonder if this mistake could get them in trouble with Disney
Re: Spyro The Dragon Reignites With A Brand New Entry On Switch 2
@molkom
I've been on a mission to actually play the games in my backlog. I've been focusing mainly on JRPGs (I spent most of 2023 playing Ys, and most of 2024 playing Suikoden), but after playing so many JRPGs in a row, you sometimes do need a break from them. So I picked Spyro 1 as my palette-cleanser, just some simple run-and-jump fun to play in between the big stories.
After playing Spyro 1 I was immediately compelled to start Spyro 2 because I was enjoying it quite a lot. and then.... it kind of just got out of hand from there.
I wanted to play the whole series because, I've only ever heard people talk about the original trilogy - I never hear people mention anything about any of the later Spyro games. It was as if the later games weren't even worth consideration. ...As a Sonic fan, I know that the "unpopular" games in a long-running series can sometimes be interesting in their own way. So I wanted to see for myself what was going on with the later games.
Would I say you're missing out? Mmm, as far as 3D platformers go, it's not better than Mario, and it's not better than Banjo Kazooie. It's definitely better than Croc. Maybe on par with Rayman? hahah. Idk. It's somewhere in that vicinity. It's pretty good. But it's not essential in this day and age. In its year of release, you definitely would be missing out by not playing it (I certainly did miss out), but nowadays, eh. Depends how interested in retro games you are.
Spyro 1 in particular feels like a very pure incarnation of a 3D platformer collectathon - it's just you and your base moveset, with very very few gimmicks to get in the way.
And I'd actually say that Spyro 1 would be a great game for players who are new to 3D action games, due to its simplicity. It's now my go-to example of a no-frills 3D platformer that just does pure open-ended platforming really well.
Spyro 2 and 3 do heavily pile on the gimmicks and minigames though.
Re: Spyro The Dragon Reignites With A Brand New Entry On Switch 2
Last year I played through the entire Spyro series for the first time. Every single game all in a row. (with the exception of skylanders because i'm not getting into that whole schtick)
I really enjoyed the original Spyro trilogy, and I had a good time with the Reignited versions, though I think I prefer the PS1 originals overall.
Enter the Dragonfly was fun enough, but very much lacking compared to the trilogy.
A Hero's Tail was pretty fun except for the bosses, and except for Blink the Mole who is just not fun to play with.
The GBA games were actually pretty decent, I liked the more open-ended Spyro Adventure / Attack of the Rhynocs one. The Crash crossover GBA game was genuinely terrible though.
Shadow Legacy was also pretty bad.
And... the Legend of Spyro subseries... ranges from mediocre to terrible, without any of them really managing to be all that good.
... Overall I'd say I've become a fan of the series pretty quickly. I very much hope this new game takes from the original style of Spyro and leaves well alone the Legend of Spyro stuff.
Seeing the collectable gems in the background of the trailer is a good sign.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Rayman 3D
@JohnnyMind
Bear in mind that the NSO version of Rayman 2 doesn't save any data at all, since the NSO N64 app doesn't support emulation of the Controller Pak memory card for whatever reason.
This means that, if you beat the final boss, you will be stuck on the credits.
Because originally the game saves at the end of the credits and you get to reload your file to go back to the world map and look for any remaining collectibles you may have missed. But on NSO, since it doesn't save, if you make a save-state during the credits, you're stuck, and if you want all the collectibles, you'll have to avoid entering the final boss until you're ready to be done.
It honestly sucks that, not only does NSO not support the Controller Pak functionality, but Nintendo felt it was perfectly fine to release games that relied on it despite that.
Personally I would recommend getting the digital GOG version of Rayman 2. works on any decent PC, it's pretty cheap, and there are fan-made patches to add widescreen and fix framerate compatibility bugs and things like that.