Fantasian Neo Dimension needs to be added to the list - I'm having a wonderful time with this game!
It's a classic-style JRPG with invisible random encounters, similar in gameplay style to FF7, FF8, FF9 - prerendered environments and all. I enjoy how there is a modern 2020s release that sees no problem using invisible encounters. Just because a gameplay style is old, that doesn't make it invalid as a style of game.
It has some of the best and most varied JRPG boss fight design I have seen in quite some time. Almost every single boss has some kind of unique interaction or twist that makes it interesting. It's not just a damage sponge with strong attacks every turn - sometimes you gotta do things like break a boss's arms off to prevent it from doing a charged attack, or prevent its minions from applying buffs to it.....and sometimes during the second half of a fight, the boss introduces a new wrinkle such as turning the floor poisonous, or there's one boss who gets more and more floating rocks defending it the more it does its powerful meteor attack, making it harder to take down if you don't prevent it from doing that attack.... and stuff like this. There's a ton of strategic depth to this combat system. I haven't felt truly challenged like this in JRPG combat since I played Octopath. The boss fight design of Fantasian is top notch stuff.
As for the game progression... I enjoy how the first 20 hours of the game are a linear sequence of story events, but after you defeat a major baddie midway through the story, the game suddenly becomes very nonlinear and full of sidequests you can tackle as you please. Kinda reminds me of FF6 in that way.
The plot isn't too special for JRPG standards, but the presentation of the story is done really nicely, especially during the storybook narration scenes. These scenes are slow-paced and relaxing, inviting you to take a moment and just listen to a story. They're really sweet, and it gives the game's storytelling a uniquely warm kind of feeling.
I enjoy the characters. Leo is a good protagonist, even though he has to deal with a clichéd amnesia plot, but I find his interactions with the rest of the cast enjoyable to watch. He doesn't annoy me like some other JRPG protagonists, because he's actually a smart and reasonable person lol. The other characters are nice too, and each one gets their own dedicated character quests too, which I always like to see.
Fantasian Neo Dimension is really good! If you like classic JRPGs, I highly recommend it!
Why are they showing off a scene from the hidden ninja village, I thought it was hidden pretty dang well and had to use a guide to find it when I played Suikoden II lol. But yeah, what a weird scene to highlight prerelease. It's just a regular dialogue scene.
This is so silly, but is completely in character for Nintendo lol. Of course they were experimenting with pointless little voice commands for Zelda 64, that's such a ...Nintendo thing to do.
Love that this little tidbit has been uncovered.
Did you want NintendoLife to not report on news about the game? Did you want fans to no longer be interested in the new updates? Did you want Toby to stop making the next game?
Why not make a new Punch Out with a brand new cast of opponents then? The Wii game was great for brining the classic NES opponents to life with such a beautiful modern presentation, but since we've already had that, there's no reason to keep using the classic characters, is there?
I've been playing Fantasian, and I'm enjoying it. An amnesia plot is rather clichéd but aside from that, the characters are fun and likable.
I especially enjoy the storybook scenes where it's just an illustration with soft narration. The one in the forest with Kina teaching Leo how to attune himself to nature was really sweet and relaxing.
And so far the plot is not too esoteric or complicated to follow - we've got an amnesiac boy who everyone seems to recognise, and he's journeying around just to try and jog his memory, pretty much. I'm sure it'll get a bit more complicated later on, but I'm glad it starts simple.
And the idea of "mechteria", an infestation of machines that spreads like a disease, is really bizarre, and I am interested in what's going on regarding that.
I enjoy the game so far. And as an RPG, its writing is doing its job really well, so no complaints here! I think people online can tend to be really harsh on RPG writing.
I dropped Ys X: Nordics for now. I'm not a fan of the fact that Falcom announced "Ys X: Proud Nordics", an enhanced version that fans will have to buy all over again. I hate it when Atlus does this, and I'm disappointed that Falcom is doing it as well.
For Christmas I received Fantasian Neo Dimension from a relative, and I'm currently much more interested in trying this game out straight away. So Sorry Ys X, I'll get back to you later (or maybe never if I leave it for until Proud Nordics comes out), but for now my focus is on Fantasian. And I really like it so far! It's got that classic PS1-era Final Fantasy feel to it in the way the camera has fixed perspectives, and there are invisible random encounters, which is surprising to see in a 2020s release since that style of RPG design has definitely gone out of fashion by now. But I never thought invisible random encounters were bad, so I'm having a great time so far.
I have the physical of the first Steven Universe game Save the Light, but they never made a physical version of Unleash the Light. As of right this very moment, it seems that Unleash is still on the european eShop, so I bought it immediately. This is an annoying reality we live in.
This game was fun for a while, but it was sorely lacking in content.
Also I am of the opinion that the game feels incomplete as a package without the ability to just play the NES games normally.
I don't care that they're on NSO subscription, that's neither here nor there. This game should have included the full games, with added timers and splits and leaderboards and all sorts of other speedrun-friendly additions.
The fact that it doesn't let you play the full games unrestricted shows that Nintendo is willing to let their products suffer in content and quality, in order to persuade users to join their subscription services, which I am not a fan of at all.
We're a long way aways from the days of Animal Crossing containing 21 NES games. ...Nowadays we can't even get NES games included in a game literally about NES games.
It's a shame - the mini console was my favourite retro-gaming fad of recent years. A selection of amazing classic games on a very easy-to-plug-in HDMI box, with a cute interface and everything? And them being completely separate to the current leading platforms (you don't need an Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch to play 'em) makes it so much more standalone and fun. It's like its own little world of nothing but retro goodness. They were super duper cool.
They were really fun to collect too. I currently have the NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Mega Drive II, PC-Engine, PlayStation, and Commodore 64 mini consoles. As well as the limited-edition Shonen Jump Famicom mini console, which is interesting to me because it has the original Dragon Quest on it, password saves and everything.
I would have literally bought as many of these mini consoles as Sega was willing to produce, especially if they made a Saturn Mini with rare games like Panzer Dragoon Saga on it.
But I suppose the fad has died down now hasn't it? It's a shame Nintendo never made an N64 or GBA mini and instead plonked the games on a higher subscription tier. Not ideal for me who prefers to own games more tangibly.
This is one of those casual-style fighting games where you have to level grind each fighter. The main gameplay loop is just grinding. I played through story mode once just to see the unique boss encounter, but I didn't have much desire to play any more than that. Also this game's fighting system is mostly the same as Ys Seven, so it's possible we may see Ys Seven come to Switch soon too? It would be weird to get the spinoff without getting the corresponding mainline game.
Ooh, interesting. Maybe they could add more miscellaneous Tetris games? Virtual Boy had two Tetris games, N64 had a few as well. And Tetris DS was fun with its NES themed aesthetic. Would be fun to see Tetris Forever accumulate more and more different tetrises in future updates.
People who play this expecting an Undertale-like - beware. it doesn't have the humour of Undertale at all. People probably make that comparison because it's a weird, subversive pixel RPG, but that's pretty much where the similarity to Undertale ends. The characters are all creepy, and the mood is always extremely offputting. The game is certainly interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend it to people looking for a similar experience to Undertale, unless you are specifically looking for weird pixel RPGs, in which case, go right ahead.
I've played this! It's a bit too freaky for my tastes to be honest, but it is a very unique and interesting horror pixel RPG. Also the main battle theme is weirdly compelling
@ScalenePowers ...Hopefully not the PSP version of Ys 6 lol. Have you tried it? That version runs awfully. The framerate is like a slideshow at times. I played it because it has minigames not in the other versions, and I wanted to see what was up with them. (The minigames are also awful).
The PS2 and PSP versions of Ys 6 were done by Konami, and I don't think Falcom has any rights to the Konami-specific content (the bonus dungeon on PS2, the minigames on PSP, the English-translated script in both). ...If Ys 6 is gonna be ported, it'll likely be the Steam version since Falcom owns everything in that one.
Agreed that an Ys 7 port would be great. And a Celceta port too while we're at it!
Surprised to see Nayuta is in the top three, I played it in January and didn't think about it again after beating it. it didn't leave a huge impression on me.
Pokémon has so many hours because this was the first time I actually played Gen 9 at all. I waited until I could get the DLC-included physical cart, so I didn't start Gen 9 until this year. I had a great time even if it's not as good as it should have been. Enjoyed it more than gen 8.
And Castlevania.... yeah, I played all three of the Dominus games the moment it came out, got 100% items, souls etc in all games, played all bonus modes including level 1 hard mode in the two games it's in, and then.... I played all three games again, to show them to my sister-in-law who enjoys watching me play games.
The majority of my time gaming this year, aside from Pokémon, was on older PlayStation consoles and not on Switch, so I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised Nayuta came in third place.
This year I played Suikoden and Suikoden II on the PSTV, Suikoden III on the PS3, Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tactics on the PS2.
...Oh, and also I casually spent over 300+ hours on UFO 50 on Steam as well, haha.
So yeah, a lot of off-switch gaming happened this year for me.
I'm surprised Zelda Echoes of Wisdom doesn't even show up anywhere . I beat that game 100%, I thought that would've taken up more time than a game like Nayuta, but I guess not.
I've heard nothing but good things about the latest few Capcom collections, but it's a bit of a shame my favourite of the old-school Capcom fighting games, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, is stuck on the not-so-great "30th Anniversary Collection". It would be nice if they updated the older collection to be on par with the newer ones.
ahh... I became an Ys fan relatively recently. I had a lot of fun playing through the whole series last year. He created some lovely games for us all, many of which helped define the Japanese RPG genre in the early days.
Just official translations of the old ones like Rebirth or Destiny Remake or Destiny 2 would be appreciated. They don't even need to be particularly remastered, just newly translated and voiced would be fine.
was actually thinking about getting it, but will not without touchscreen support. what a ridiculous omission, especially since this was on mobile, wasn't it?
They print them physically and make them into nice little books like this? Is that necessary for development, or is it done after the fact as a compilation? I would have thought everything was a digital document during development
I don't see the problem with a Nintendo fan enjoying PS1 more than N64? This comment section is weird. Just because we're on a Nintendo focused site doesn't mean every user has to always side with Nintendo in every opportunity.
PS1 clearly had the larger variety of games than N64. It's not a matter of "brand loyalty" at this point, the two machines are very very different products. Like, if you were an RPG fan, you were just completely out of luck on N64, while PS1 was out there completely revolutionising the genre.
I wonder if they will release the GBC and GBA versions of Donkey Kong Country next? Seems redundant, but we got both SM All-Stars and the Super Mario Advance series, so you never know.
Yeah, it's not "hardcore", but if I'm gonna be posting a link to erotica on NLife I wanted to make sure it was clearly marked lol.
(also the artist does have a link to their explicit nsfw account on there too, so y'know)
I don't know if it helps or hurts the point you were making, but I just wanted to bring attention to the twitter account of the game's artist, which features many erotic artworks of big boob characters drawn in the same cutesy art style.
As for the big boob characters in REDNEG ALLSTARS specifically, who can say if it was intended to just be a funny character design or not, but I just wanted to point out that the artist does in fact draw erotica in the same exact art style.
By the way, my stance on the matter is that it shouldn't be such a big deal to draw a character with big boobs. I don't think big boobs are always inherently sexual, it can just be used as a character design element in order to exaggerate someone's appearance for comical effect, characterisation, or any other reason. Even just to have some big boob characters for the sake of it, or for representation, or whatever, I think it's fine.
And I also don't think that a game should be "banned" just because one of the characters is very booby. I think there must be something else going on that hasn't been made clear.
It might be worth noting that this studio's previous two games "Like Dreamer" and "Cosmo Dreamer" are in the eShop, with a 12 and a 7 rating in the european eShop. And I'm pretty sure those games have big boobies in them as well.
So I'm leaning more towards it being the drug thing
My personal game of the year, UFO 50, is not in this list.
Of those games in the list, the only one I've actually played is Zelda (though I did play the original Sonic Generations when it was new in 2011)
When Zelda Echoes of Wisdom came out, it was kind of awkward because I was so invested into UFO 50, I just wanted to do nothing but play it - but as a Zelda fan, I needed to also play the new Zelda, of course! So I was sort of hopping between them both, I wanted to play both of them so badly...
Then when I finished Zelda, I immediately felt relieved because it meant I could go back to UFO 50 without distractions.
And now several months post release, Zelda has mostly left my mind and yet I'm still obsessing over UFO 50 even though I've beaten both of them haha.
Makes me feel kind of bad as a huge Zelda fan though. I feel like I'm not giving Echoes of Wisdom the adoration it deserves, but to be quite honest, it was a little bit underwhelming as Zelda games go. And UFO 50 is such a huge labour of love that deserves all the respect in the world for achieving what it managed to achieve.
So yeah. Sorry to Zelda but.... as far as my personal gaming world is concerned, there was a much more significant and much more interesting game release than Zelda this year.
...Oh and tbh i'm not all that interested in The Game Awards anyway, so whatevs.
Croc was my first 3d platformer ever. I loved it as a kid, but I am well aware it is not "good". I don't know if I want the remake because I'm not sure if I'll get much value from it.
I already have the majority of the game memorised in my head. Even the weird secrets like stomping three times on the floating platform in the very first screen of the first level to enter a bonus room with 1ups, or falling off the bottomless cliff near the cogs in one of the ice levels to find a bonus room. Or having the dang pattern of the incredibly annoying sheep challenge completely memorised. Aggh. I don't know if I need to play this remake lol, it's possible I've had enough Croc to last a lifetime.
On a similar note, Rollercoaster Tycoon was also a beloved childhood game of mine. But unlike Croc, this is a game that has infinite replayability, so it may be fun to get it on Switch for the sake of it, even though I still have the original CD ROM somewhere in the house and could easily get it running on my laptop right now if I felt so inclined.... I guess having it on Switch would be a fun novelty. But it's not a priority by any means.
nah. Many years ago I got the 3DS version from CeX. and I never even played it. For whatever reason I just never mustered up enough enthusiasm to give it a go.
Maybe if I see it around for cheap i'll grab it but there's absolutely no rush
This short feels like something from an amateur who's learning stop motion and wants to pay tribute to their favourite Nintendo games as they practice animation techniques.
....it doesn't really feel like a marketing piece made by Nintendo.
square have done this in other games. Live A Live restricted the capture button during the entire final chapter iirc. They patched it out shortly after.
But this FF7 rerelease has been on Switch for years. I wonder why it took so long to patch it out for this one, especially for one of the most well-known plot twists in gaming history, at that?
btw I think this practice is absurd. Any company trying to enforce any kind of "anti spoiler" policy is completely misunderstanding their audience. It's not just Square, I've seen Atlus try to enforce stupid anti-spoiler things too.
the implementation of Dominus Collection is almost perfect. It's a little clumsy to make precise touchscreen inputs with the analogue stick, which is fine for this collection because it is rarely necessary in the game (and the magic seals that required precise inputs were reworked to use buttons anyway). It wouldn't work so well for Rhythm Heaven for example that requires a very specific flick action. For a game like that, it'd make more sense to remake it entirely rather than emulate. That's the tricky thing about DS touchscreen usage - it was so versatile, any modern ports are gonna have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Thankfully I bought Perfect Chronology from the eShop during the panic of its imminent closure, so I've got it for when I'll get around to it. Knowing my luck, by the time I actually get around to it, it'll get a switch port announced one day later or something.
For me it's gotta be the three Castlevanias, and then Pokémon gen 5. But... Rhythm Heaven is also one of my favourite things to ever exist too.
I spent so much time on Mario Kart and Kirby too, back in the day. The DS was so good, I still haven't gone through my backlog of games I need to play.
Most recently I played Ghost Trick for the first time (On a proper DS, too, it wasn't a modern version). It was pretty good, and it made me want to play Hotel Dusk at some point too. There's still life in the machine yet!
How many remakes does one game need? Pixel Remaster doesn't even have the GBA content, so it's not even definitive. Did they purposefully impair the Pixel Remaster version so that they could make a HD-2D definitive version later, or what? is that why they're talking about another remake so soon after we just got one?
Hey I have an idea. they won't do it, but... What if they just made Final Fantasy 17 a HD-2D pixel art game? Just straight up do the next mainline FF game in this style. Would be more interesting than yet another extremely high budget hack n slash after FF16 and FF7R , right?
I've played a few "Castlevania inspired" eShop games (Toziuha Night, Touhou Luna Nights, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Koumajou Remilia Scarlet Symphony, Gal Guardians) and while they're not bad, none of them have been able to hold a candelabra to any of the actual Castlevania games. I don't tend to have high hopes for them any more.
I tried to play the first Soul Reaver once, but I just got lost wandering around and kinda lost interest. I'm sure it's a great game though, just one that demanded more patience from me than I was able to provide at the time I tried it. ...For whatever reason it didn't stand out to me, though I do know the game has a lot of fans, so maybe I should give it another chance.
When you think of 18+ N64 games, Conker is the one to come to mind immediately, but for some reason the most recent N64 NSO update didn't add it. We got Shadow Man instead, which is a game I've been interested in trying. (but I decided to buy "Shadow Man Remastered" from GOG, so I still don't need to subscribe to the expansion tier just yet!)
... Maybe it's because it's too soon after Banjo Tooie was released, so they're saving Conker for later. But I have absolutely no doubt that it will come to the 18+ app sooner or later. It's the mature N64 game lol.
@Drake Just for completeness's sake, did you play Ys vs Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga for PSP? I played through story mode once just to check out its unique final boss, which is actually a dragon called Galsis from Xanadu, and isn't even from Ys or Trails. But the game itself is one of those fighters where you have to level-grind your characters individually, and there's no way in heck I'm putting that kind of time into it. I didn't even feel like unlocking all the unlockable fighters lol.
Also, during my personal quest to play every Ys game, I did decide to skip over Ys Strategy. The tutorial mission bored me to death. Maybe one day I'll find the willpower to actually figure this one out, but the prospect of playing more of it did not fill me with excitement at all.
@Tyranexx Oh yes, of course, I appreciate that you don't want to overwhelm someone asking a question with the entire (and likely mostly irrelevant) history of the series. I guess I was just being pedantic and looking for reasons to share my Ys knowledge. Glad you appreciated some of the info though.
For me, 2023 was the year I played every Ys game, and 2024 is the year I've been playing every Suikoden game. ...but now that Ys X Nordics has released, I've put Suikoden on hold in favour of the new Ys! So that'll be my gaming plan for the next while.
Also been playing a ton of UFO 50. I've been trying to get every cherry, and I'm getting pretty close now! Next I have to master the ridiculous controls of Onion Delivery... it's painful, but fun at the same time somehow.
Comments 2,538
Re: Best Nintendo Switch RPGs
Fantasian Neo Dimension needs to be added to the list - I'm having a wonderful time with this game!
It's a classic-style JRPG with invisible random encounters, similar in gameplay style to FF7, FF8, FF9 - prerendered environments and all. I enjoy how there is a modern 2020s release that sees no problem using invisible encounters. Just because a gameplay style is old, that doesn't make it invalid as a style of game.
It has some of the best and most varied JRPG boss fight design I have seen in quite some time. Almost every single boss has some kind of unique interaction or twist that makes it interesting. It's not just a damage sponge with strong attacks every turn - sometimes you gotta do things like break a boss's arms off to prevent it from doing a charged attack, or prevent its minions from applying buffs to it.....and sometimes during the second half of a fight, the boss introduces a new wrinkle such as turning the floor poisonous, or there's one boss who gets more and more floating rocks defending it the more it does its powerful meteor attack, making it harder to take down if you don't prevent it from doing that attack.... and stuff like this. There's a ton of strategic depth to this combat system. I haven't felt truly challenged like this in JRPG combat since I played Octopath.
The boss fight design of Fantasian is top notch stuff.
As for the game progression... I enjoy how the first 20 hours of the game are a linear sequence of story events, but after you defeat a major baddie midway through the story, the game suddenly becomes very nonlinear and full of sidequests you can tackle as you please. Kinda reminds me of FF6 in that way.
The plot isn't too special for JRPG standards, but the presentation of the story is done really nicely, especially during the storybook narration scenes. These scenes are slow-paced and relaxing, inviting you to take a moment and just listen to a story. They're really sweet, and it gives the game's storytelling a uniquely warm kind of feeling.
I enjoy the characters. Leo is a good protagonist, even though he has to deal with a clichéd amnesia plot, but I find his interactions with the rest of the cast enjoyable to watch. He doesn't annoy me like some other JRPG protagonists, because he's actually a smart and reasonable person lol. The other characters are nice too, and each one gets their own dedicated character quests too, which I always like to see.
Fantasian Neo Dimension is really good! If you like classic JRPGs, I highly recommend it!
Re: Konami Shows Off New Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gameplay
Why are they showing off a scene from the hidden ninja village, I thought it was hidden pretty dang well and had to use a guide to find it when I played Suikoden II lol. But yeah, what a weird scene to highlight prerelease. It's just a regular dialogue scene.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (4th January)
I'm 20 hours into Fantasian now. I really like it.
It's a simple, classic-style JRPG, and it's not trying to be anything more than that. It's good.
Re: Random: Modder Shows Off Unused N64 Mic Support In Zelda: Majora's Mask
This is so silly, but is completely in character for Nintendo lol. Of course they were experimenting with pointless little voice commands for Zelda 64, that's such a ...Nintendo thing to do.
Love that this little tidbit has been uncovered.
Re: Toby Fox New Year Message Reminds Us Deltarune's Next Chapters Are Launching This Year
@ArmenianJedi13
What exactly do you mean?
Did you want NintendoLife to not report on news about the game?
Did you want fans to no longer be interested in the new updates?
Did you want Toby to stop making the next game?
How can a new update be old news?
Re: Nintendo's Punch-Out!! Series May Be Dead And Buried For Good
Why not make a new Punch Out with a brand new cast of opponents then? The Wii game was great for brining the classic NES opponents to life with such a beautiful modern presentation, but since we've already had that, there's no reason to keep using the classic characters, is there?
Re: Final Fantasy Creator’s Next Script Is Already Done
I've been playing Fantasian, and I'm enjoying it. An amnesia plot is rather clichéd but aside from that, the characters are fun and likable.
I especially enjoy the storybook scenes where it's just an illustration with soft narration. The one in the forest with Kina teaching Leo how to attune himself to nature was really sweet and relaxing.
And so far the plot is not too esoteric or complicated to follow - we've got an amnesiac boy who everyone seems to recognise, and he's journeying around just to try and jog his memory, pretty much. I'm sure it'll get a bit more complicated later on, but I'm glad it starts simple.
And the idea of "mechteria", an infestation of machines that spreads like a disease, is really bizarre, and I am interested in what's going on regarding that.
I enjoy the game so far. And as an RPG, its writing is doing its job really well, so no complaints here! I think people online can tend to be really harsh on RPG writing.
Re: Nintendo Reveals Japan's "Top 30" Most Downloaded Switch eShop Games Of 2024
Is Japan a big fan of Nickelodeon? 🤔
I guess they must like SpongeBob.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (New Year Edition)
I dropped Ys X: Nordics for now. I'm not a fan of the fact that Falcom announced "Ys X: Proud Nordics", an enhanced version that fans will have to buy all over again. I hate it when Atlus does this, and I'm disappointed that Falcom is doing it as well.
For Christmas I received Fantasian Neo Dimension from a relative, and I'm currently much more interested in trying this game out straight away. So Sorry Ys X, I'll get back to you later (or maybe never if I leave it for until Proud Nordics comes out), but for now my focus is on Fantasian. And I really like it so far! It's got that classic PS1-era Final Fantasy feel to it in the way the camera has fixed perspectives, and there are invisible random encounters, which is surprising to see in a 2020s release since that style of RPG design has definitely gone out of fashion by now. But I never thought invisible random encounters were bad, so I'm having a great time so far.
Re: Multiple Cartoon Network Games Have Been Removed From The Switch eShop
I have the physical of the first Steven Universe game Save the Light, but they never made a physical version of Unleash the Light. As of right this very moment, it seems that Unleash is still on the european eShop, so I bought it immediately.
This is an annoying reality we live in.
Re: Opinion: It's Not My GOTY, But This Nintendo Game Was A Standout 2024 Memory
This game was fun for a while, but it was sorely lacking in content.
Also I am of the opinion that the game feels incomplete as a package without the ability to just play the NES games normally.
I don't care that they're on NSO subscription, that's neither here nor there. This game should have included the full games, with added timers and splits and leaderboards and all sorts of other speedrun-friendly additions.
The fact that it doesn't let you play the full games unrestricted shows that Nintendo is willing to let their products suffer in content and quality, in order to persuade users to join their subscription services, which I am not a fan of at all.
We're a long way aways from the days of Animal Crossing containing 21 NES games. ...Nowadays we can't even get NES games included in a game literally about NES games.
Re: Don't Expect Any More Miniature Consoles From Sega
Oh and by the way.
I highly recommend a Steam game called UFO 50 for anyone who enjoys things like the mini consoles.
UFO 50 is basically just a modern indie version of the "mini console" experience. It's really good too.
Re: Don't Expect Any More Miniature Consoles From Sega
It's a shame - the mini console was my favourite retro-gaming fad of recent years. A selection of amazing classic games on a very easy-to-plug-in HDMI box, with a cute interface and everything? And them being completely separate to the current leading platforms (you don't need an Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch to play 'em) makes it so much more standalone and fun. It's like its own little world of nothing but retro goodness. They were super duper cool.
They were really fun to collect too. I currently have the NES, SNES, Mega Drive, Mega Drive II, PC-Engine, PlayStation, and Commodore 64 mini consoles. As well as the limited-edition Shonen Jump Famicom mini console, which is interesting to me because it has the original Dragon Quest on it, password saves and everything.
I would have literally bought as many of these mini consoles as Sega was willing to produce, especially if they made a Saturn Mini with rare games like Panzer Dragoon Saga on it.
But I suppose the fad has died down now hasn't it? It's a shame Nintendo never made an N64 or GBA mini and instead plonked the games on a higher subscription tier. Not ideal for me who prefers to own games more tangibly.
Re: Sega Is "Evaluating" Its Own Netflix-Style Subscription Service
I hope this isn't the reason they delisted their games recently.
I was hoping it was just because they were making a new collection.
Re: 'Ys vs. Trails In The Sky: Alternative Saga' Announced For Switch, Coming 2025
This is one of those casual-style fighting games where you have to level grind each fighter. The main gameplay loop is just grinding. I played through story mode once just to see the unique boss encounter, but I didn't have much desire to play any more than that.
Also this game's fighting system is mostly the same as Ys Seven, so it's possible we may see Ys Seven come to Switch soon too? It would be weird to get the spinoff without getting the corresponding mainline game.
Re: 'Tetris Forever' Adds Curious Sequel 'Welltris' Via A Free Update
Ooh, interesting. Maybe they could add more miscellaneous Tetris games? Virtual Boy had two Tetris games, N64 had a few as well. And Tetris DS was fun with its NES themed aesthetic.
Would be fun to see Tetris Forever accumulate more and more different tetrises in future updates.
Re: Cult RPG Hit 'OFF' Makes Its Way To The Switch In 2025
People who play this expecting an Undertale-like - beware. it doesn't have the humour of Undertale at all. People probably make that comparison because it's a weird, subversive pixel RPG, but that's pretty much where the similarity to Undertale ends. The characters are all creepy, and the mood is always extremely offputting. The game is certainly interesting, but I wouldn't really recommend it to people looking for a similar experience to Undertale, unless you are specifically looking for weird pixel RPGs, in which case, go right ahead.
Re: Cult RPG Hit 'OFF' Makes Its Way To The Switch In 2025
I've played this! It's a bit too freaky for my tastes to be honest, but it is a very unique and interesting horror pixel RPG. Also the main battle theme is weirdly compelling
Re: Your 'Nintendo Switch Year In Review 2024' Stats Are Available Now
@ScalenePowers
...Hopefully not the PSP version of Ys 6 lol. Have you tried it? That version runs awfully. The framerate is like a slideshow at times.
I played it because it has minigames not in the other versions, and I wanted to see what was up with them. (The minigames are also awful).
The PS2 and PSP versions of Ys 6 were done by Konami, and I don't think Falcom has any rights to the Konami-specific content (the bonus dungeon on PS2, the minigames on PSP, the English-translated script in both). ...If Ys 6 is gonna be ported, it'll likely be the Steam version since Falcom owns everything in that one.
Agreed that an Ys 7 port would be great. And a Celceta port too while we're at it!
Re: Your 'Nintendo Switch Year In Review 2024' Stats Are Available Now
Here's mine:
87 games and 830 hours
Top three:
Surprised to see Nayuta is in the top three, I played it in January and didn't think about it again after beating it. it didn't leave a huge impression on me.
Pokémon has so many hours because this was the first time I actually played Gen 9 at all. I waited until I could get the DLC-included physical cart, so I didn't start Gen 9 until this year. I had a great time even if it's not as good as it should have been. Enjoyed it more than gen 8.
And Castlevania.... yeah, I played all three of the Dominus games the moment it came out, got 100% items, souls etc in all games, played all bonus modes including level 1 hard mode in the two games it's in, and then.... I played all three games again, to show them to my sister-in-law who enjoys watching me play games.
The majority of my time gaming this year, aside from Pokémon, was on older PlayStation consoles and not on Switch, so I guess I shouldn't be all that surprised Nayuta came in third place.
This year I played Suikoden and Suikoden II on the PSTV, Suikoden III on the PS3, Suikoden IV and Suikoden Tactics on the PS2.
...Oh, and also I casually spent over 300+ hours on UFO 50 on Steam as well, haha.
So yeah, a lot of off-switch gaming happened this year for me.
I'm surprised Zelda Echoes of Wisdom doesn't even show up anywhere . I beat that game 100%, I thought that would've taken up more time than a game like Nayuta, but I guess not.
Re: New Capcom Survey Wants To Know Your Thoughts About MvC Fighting Collection
I've heard nothing but good things about the latest few Capcom collections, but it's a bit of a shame my favourite of the old-school Capcom fighting games, Street Fighter 3rd Strike, is stuck on the not-so-great "30th Anniversary Collection". It would be nice if they updated the older collection to be on par with the newer ones.
Re: Masayuki Kato, Founder Of Nihon Falcom, Has Passed Away
ahh... I became an Ys fan relatively recently. I had a lot of fun playing through the whole series last year.
He created some lovely games for us all, many of which helped define the Japanese RPG genre in the early days.
Re: Bandai Namco Promises To Release Tales Remasters "Fairly Consistently"
Just official translations of the old ones like Rebirth or Destiny Remake or Destiny 2 would be appreciated. They don't even need to be particularly remastered, just newly translated and voiced would be fine.
Re: Nintendo Alarmo Has Received A Free Update, Here's What's Included
I can't believe the Nintendo drip-feed method is being used for a dang alarm clock
Re: Review: Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic (Switch) - One Heck Of A Ride, But With A Few Leaves On The Track
was actually thinking about getting it, but will not without touchscreen support. what a ridiculous omission, especially since this was on mobile, wasn't it?
Re: Random: Monolith Soft Showcases Piles And Piles Of Xenoblade Chronicles Scripts
They print them physically and make them into nice little books like this? Is that necessary for development, or is it done after the fact as a compilation? I would have thought everything was a digital document during development
Re: Nintendo Left Sony "Standing At The Altar" With SNES Disk Add-On, Says Former PlayStation Exec
I don't see the problem with a Nintendo fan enjoying PS1 more than N64? This comment section is weird. Just because we're on a Nintendo focused site doesn't mean every user has to always side with Nintendo in every opportunity.
PS1 clearly had the larger variety of games than N64. It's not a matter of "brand loyalty" at this point, the two machines are very very different products. Like, if you were an RPG fan, you were just completely out of luck on N64, while PS1 was out there completely revolutionising the genre.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Library With Another Classic
I wonder if they will release the GBC and GBA versions of Donkey Kong Country next? Seems redundant, but we got both SM All-Stars and the Super Mario Advance series, so you never know.
Re: Bullet-Hell Shmup Refused Classification In The West Over 'Expression Restrictions'
@betterthanvegas
Yeah, it's not "hardcore", but if I'm gonna be posting a link to erotica on NLife I wanted to make sure it was clearly marked lol.
(also the artist does have a link to their explicit nsfw account on there too, so y'know)
Re: Bullet-Hell Shmup Refused Classification In The West Over 'Expression Restrictions'
@DDFawfulGuy
I don't know if it helps or hurts the point you were making, but I just wanted to bring attention to the twitter account of the game's artist, which features many erotic artworks of big boob characters drawn in the same cutesy art style.
(WARNING EXTREMELY NSFW TWITTER)
https://twitter.com/Skapon_g
As for the big boob characters in REDNEG ALLSTARS specifically, who can say if it was intended to just be a funny character design or not, but I just wanted to point out that the artist does in fact draw erotica in the same exact art style.
By the way, my stance on the matter is that it shouldn't be such a big deal to draw a character with big boobs. I don't think big boobs are always inherently sexual, it can just be used as a character design element in order to exaggerate someone's appearance for comical effect, characterisation, or any other reason. Even just to have some big boob characters for the sake of it, or for representation, or whatever, I think it's fine.
And I also don't think that a game should be "banned" just because one of the characters is very booby. I think there must be something else going on that hasn't been made clear.
Re: Bullet-Hell Shmup Refused Classification In The West Over 'Expression Restrictions'
It might be worth noting that this studio's previous two games "Like Dreamer" and "Cosmo Dreamer" are in the eShop, with a 12 and a 7 rating in the european eShop. And I'm pretty sure those games have big boobies in them as well.
So I'm leaning more towards it being the drug thing
Re: The Game Awards 2024 Players' Voice Nominees Have Been Revealed - Zelda, Sonic And More
My personal game of the year, UFO 50, is not in this list.
Of those games in the list, the only one I've actually played is Zelda (though I did play the original Sonic Generations when it was new in 2011)
When Zelda Echoes of Wisdom came out, it was kind of awkward because I was so invested into UFO 50, I just wanted to do nothing but play it - but as a Zelda fan, I needed to also play the new Zelda, of course! So I was sort of hopping between them both, I wanted to play both of them so badly...
Then when I finished Zelda, I immediately felt relieved because it meant I could go back to UFO 50 without distractions.
And now several months post release, Zelda has mostly left my mind and yet I'm still obsessing over UFO 50 even though I've beaten both of them haha.
Makes me feel kind of bad as a huge Zelda fan though. I feel like I'm not giving Echoes of Wisdom the adoration it deserves, but to be quite honest, it was a little bit underwhelming as Zelda games go. And UFO 50 is such a huge labour of love that deserves all the respect in the world for achieving what it managed to achieve.
So yeah. Sorry to Zelda but.... as far as my personal gaming world is concerned, there was a much more significant and much more interesting game release than Zelda this year.
...Oh and tbh i'm not all that interested in The Game Awards anyway, so whatevs.
Re: Video: 10 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In December 2024
Croc was my first 3d platformer ever. I loved it as a kid, but I am well aware it is not "good". I don't know if I want the remake because I'm not sure if I'll get much value from it.
I already have the majority of the game memorised in my head. Even the weird secrets like stomping three times on the floating platform in the very first screen of the first level to enter a bonus room with 1ups, or falling off the bottomless cliff near the cogs in one of the ice levels to find a bonus room. Or having the dang pattern of the incredibly annoying sheep challenge completely memorised. Aggh. I don't know if I need to play this remake lol, it's possible I've had enough Croc to last a lifetime.
On a similar note, Rollercoaster Tycoon was also a beloved childhood game of mine. But unlike Croc, this is a game that has infinite replayability, so it may be fun to get it on Switch for the sake of it, even though I still have the original CD ROM somewhere in the house and could easily get it running on my laptop right now if I felt so inclined.... I guess having it on Switch would be a fun novelty. But it's not a priority by any means.
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Donkey Kong Country Returns HD For Switch?
nah. Many years ago I got the 3DS version from CeX. and I never even played it.
For whatever reason I just never mustered up enough enthusiasm to give it a go.
Maybe if I see it around for cheap i'll grab it but there's absolutely no rush
Re: New Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Animation Short Is So Very, Very Boring
This short feels like something from an amateur who's learning stop motion and wants to pay tribute to their favourite Nintendo games as they practice animation techniques.
....it doesn't really feel like a marketing piece made by Nintendo.
Re: Final Fantasy VII Switch Update Removes "Restrictions For Sharing Features"
square have done this in other games. Live A Live restricted the capture button during the entire final chapter iirc. They patched it out shortly after.
But this FF7 rerelease has been on Switch for years. I wonder why it took so long to patch it out for this one, especially for one of the most well-known plot twists in gaming history, at that?
btw I think this practice is absurd. Any company trying to enforce any kind of "anti spoiler" policy is completely misunderstanding their audience. It's not just Square, I've seen Atlus try to enforce stupid anti-spoiler things too.
Re: Talking Point: What Would Be The Ideal Way To Play DS Games On 'Switch 2'?
the implementation of Dominus Collection is almost perfect. It's a little clumsy to make precise touchscreen inputs with the analogue stick, which is fine for this collection because it is rarely necessary in the game (and the magic seals that required precise inputs were reworked to use buttons anyway). It wouldn't work so well for Rhythm Heaven for example that requires a very specific flick action. For a game like that, it'd make more sense to remake it entirely rather than emulate. That's the tricky thing about DS touchscreen usage - it was so versatile, any modern ports are gonna have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
Re: Opinion: Chrono Trigger Isn't The Only Great Time-Travel RPG On DS
Thankfully I bought Perfect Chronology from the eShop during the panic of its imminent closure, so I've got it for when I'll get around to it. Knowing my luck, by the time I actually get around to it, it'll get a switch port announced one day later or something.
Re: Talking Point: What Are Your Top 5 Nintendo DS Games?
For me it's gotta be the three Castlevanias, and then Pokémon gen 5. But... Rhythm Heaven is also one of my favourite things to ever exist too.
I spent so much time on Mario Kart and Kirby too, back in the day. The DS was so good, I still haven't gone through my backlog of games I need to play.
Most recently I played Ghost Trick for the first time (On a proper DS, too, it wasn't a modern version). It was pretty good, and it made me want to play Hotel Dusk at some point too. There's still life in the machine yet!
Re: New Limited-Time Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Distribution Is Now Available
...wow I was almost gonna boot up Pokémon again until I saw what it was.
Re: Dragon Quest 3 Remake Producer Would "Love" To See Final Fantasy 6 HD-2D
How many remakes does one game need? Pixel Remaster doesn't even have the GBA content, so it's not even definitive. Did they purposefully impair the Pixel Remaster version so that they could make a HD-2D definitive version later, or what? is that why they're talking about another remake so soon after we just got one?
Hey I have an idea. they won't do it, but... What if they just made Final Fantasy 17 a HD-2D pixel art game? Just straight up do the next mainline FF game in this style. Would be more interesting than yet another extremely high budget hack n slash after FF16 and FF7R , right?
Re: Castlevania Tribute Starring Classic Dracula Actor Launches Today On Switch
I've played a few "Castlevania inspired" eShop games (Toziuha Night, Touhou Luna Nights, Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Koumajou Remilia Scarlet Symphony, Gal Guardians) and while they're not bad, none of them have been able to hold a candelabra to any of the actual Castlevania games. I don't tend to have high hopes for them any more.
Re: Feature: Nintendo's Long-Lost Advent Calendar Game Comes Home For Christmas On Switch
It definitely looks like a Flash platformer. Good thing I used to love playing stuff like this on Flash sites back in the day.
I'll check it out.
Re: Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered Switch eShop Pre-Orders Now Available
I tried to play the first Soul Reaver once, but I just got lost wandering around and kinda lost interest. I'm sure it's a great game though, just one that demanded more patience from me than I was able to provide at the time I tried it.
...For whatever reason it didn't stand out to me, though I do know the game has a lot of fans, so maybe I should give it another chance.
Re: Sega Delisting 'Mega Drive Classics' On Switch eShop This December
@Teksetter
Unfortunately, the original soundtrack has been replaced for Crazy Taxi. There is however a steam guide to download a "Crazy Taxi Overhaul" mod that restores it https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=964260789
Re: Sega Delisting 'Mega Drive Classics' On Switch eShop This December
Hey, make sure to buy the Dreamcast collection on Steam before it's gone too! It's also going away. So annoying Sega.
Re: Random: Rapper Doja Cat Debuts 'Bouncy' Conker-Inspired Halloween Costume
When you think of 18+ N64 games, Conker is the one to come to mind immediately, but for some reason the most recent N64 NSO update didn't add it. We got Shadow Man instead, which is a game I've been interested in trying. (but I decided to buy "Shadow Man Remastered" from GOG, so I still don't need to subscribe to the expansion tier just yet!)
... Maybe it's because it's too soon after Banjo Tooie was released, so they're saving Conker for later. But I have absolutely no doubt that it will come to the 18+ app sooner or later. It's the mature N64 game lol.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Ys Game? Rate Your Favourites For Our Upcoming Ranking
@Drake
Just for completeness's sake, did you play Ys vs Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga for PSP? I played through story mode once just to check out its unique final boss, which is actually a dragon called Galsis from Xanadu, and isn't even from Ys or Trails. But the game itself is one of those fighters where you have to level-grind your characters individually, and there's no way in heck I'm putting that kind of time into it. I didn't even feel like unlocking all the unlockable fighters lol.
Also, during my personal quest to play every Ys game, I did decide to skip over Ys Strategy. The tutorial mission bored me to death. Maybe one day I'll find the willpower to actually figure this one out, but the prospect of playing more of it did not fill me with excitement at all.
Re: Poll: What's The Best Ys Game? Rate Your Favourites For Our Upcoming Ranking
@Tyranexx
Oh yes, of course, I appreciate that you don't want to overwhelm someone asking a question with the entire (and likely mostly irrelevant) history of the series. I guess I was just being pedantic and looking for reasons to share my Ys knowledge.
Glad you appreciated some of the info though.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (26th October)
For me, 2023 was the year I played every Ys game, and 2024 is the year I've been playing every Suikoden game. ...but now that Ys X Nordics has released, I've put Suikoden on hold in favour of the new Ys! So that'll be my gaming plan for the next while.
Also been playing a ton of UFO 50. I've been trying to get every cherry, and I'm getting pretty close now! Next I have to master the ridiculous controls of Onion Delivery... it's painful, but fun at the same time somehow.