@MatoFilipovic
The fact that Atari 50 takes the form of a documentary first, playable collection second, is what makes it an appealing product in my opinion.
It's an interactive history lesson.
I agree that the majority of Atari 2600 games are not particularly worthwhile nowadays, but the history is very interesting. I feel like this package has fully understood this fact, because it needs to be more than just the old games in order to be interesting to a modern audience. They pulled it off perfectly.
...that being said, I did legitimately find it fun to play Adventure tbh, that game was ahead of its time
I just finished pretty much all there is to do in the base game - I just got that grindy-as-heck 1000 trainer battles research mission done, and with all the money I accumulated from doing that, I bought all the fashion Lumiose has to offer too.
Now I'm kind of just waiting until I will be able to get the Delphox and Chesnaught mega stones. I wish they weren't limited behind online events.
The game does feel a little light on content to be honest. As annoying as it is that we'll have to pay so much to get more, I am looking forward to it because I do enjoy the game.
Overall I feel like Legends Arceus was a much more complete package compared to this game.
I tried the PSP version a couple years ago and was not all that impressed by the gameplay. It's a fighting game where you have to level-grind your characters. The main point of the game seems to be just grinding for grinding's sake.
I do like the idea of Ys Seven's combat system being expanded into a fighting game, but I dunno, I'm not sure it really works that well in practice? I'm happy more Japan-exclusive Ys games are getting localised though, that's really cool to see.
Has anyone played this and had a good time with it?
As a completionist, I like to buy every single clothing item in Pokémon. It costs a ton of Poké money though. I looked up how much it would cost to get all the outfits in Legends Z-A, and it's around 7 million. Guess I'll accumulate it while also going for that 1000 battles research task, eh. If you can get 30 battles in a single night in the Battle Zones, your money multiplier is 3x which ain't too bad. Can get 400,000 or so with that if you get enough medals
I finished the main story of Pokémon Legends Z-A yesterday, now I'm in the postgame. I'm having a good time. The realtime combat is quite interesting because it is truly different than normal Pokémon combat, yet it still retains a lot of familiar elements. I kind of enjoy how it gives life to moves that were always outclassed by other moves - there's now a distinct reason to use Rock Blast over Rock Slide for example because Rock Blast is quick and travels in a straight line. I think it's really cool what they've managed with the combat here, even though I definitely don't think it should replace standard combat in the mainline games or anything.
literally, just do it with your ingame team. rank k will take 1 hour to reach. even if you lose spectacularly, you usually gain enough points to earn ranks anyway. it's really really really really lenient.
I was initially worried about these events, since it seems like a tall order to rank up so high for the seasonal prize... but then I actually tried to play it. I won the Greninjite from the first event within an hour.
It's not like regular competitive Pokémon whatsoever. It's more akin to Super Smash Bros free-for-all with items. The player with the most KOs wins, and a KO counts even if you're just finishing off the last HP of someone else's opponent.
So if you're worried that your team isn't trained enough for these events, just try it anyway. It'll be okay.
Metroid Prime 2 was developed in Texas. It's very possible that Echoes was the original name and Dark Echoes was the alternate name that came afterwards.
I think the text on the side of the JP box is supposed to make it feel more cinematic.
It's not written in Japanese, it's not literally intended to be your primary source for release date information. It's there to give the artwork a more "Hollywood movie poster" feel that Japanese sci-fi fans would find appealing.
I do wonder about Dark Echoes though - maybe the "adjective noun" style of subtitle feels more comfortable to Japanese fans too. But to be honest, I kind of like it better than just Echoes myself.
Nothing too bizarre for me this time - just Pokémon Legends Z-A.
It's fine so far. But it's not as interesting as Legends Arceus by any means. I'm not sure about the real-time combat tbh, but I suppose they're using the Legends series to experiment with the established mechanics. Which is commendable.
It doesn't have the feeling of being on a grand adventure though. I think they should have made Lumiose way way way bigger tbh.
the DK Bananza and Pokémon Z-A teams should take note.
It's so annoying when they decide "okay now this part of the game, we'll get 'em to spend more in order to play". Like come on. Your desire for more profit outweighs your desire for doing right by your fans, and it's so obvious.
I love that Sakurai confirmed that no sequels and no DLCs are planned - because he's putting every piece of content he possibly can in the base game right from the start.
Compare this to what Pokémon just did with its £25 extra to spend on the Mega Dimension DLC, available to purchase on day one.... there's no contest. Sakurai's games are the real deal.
He's still upholding the spirit of simple fun that videogames had before online storefronts. It's great to see.
Overall I really love this game. But when I played it, I did have some issues with some of the game design.
I think the magic is implemented very poorly. It is a hassle to use magic because you can only have one thing equipped at a time.
And if you try to use a magic spell from your menu without equipping it, the unpausing animation forces you to face south, so you can only fire downwards. ... Quite a bad oversight.
Additionally, I didn't like how the majority of boss fights completely lock you out of being able to use your spells arbitrarily - with the exception of that Bloody Mary fight that requires you to use magic. ...but up until that point, the game has been conditioning you to think that boss fights are no-magic zones, so it's just kind of confusing.
The other big issue I had was with the pacing - the first half of the game is dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, while the last half of the game is sidequest after sidequest after sidequest. I think the pacing is quite unbalanced, and it can lead to fatigue.
A mix of all options for me. if it's on NSO, then that's pretty convenient since I'm always on my Switch anyway. But not all games I want to play are on NSO.
Many games I still only have via Virtual Console - for example Final Fantasy IV (aka II) is installed on my Wii, and that's my preferred place to play it even now, especially since the Pixel Remasters aren't the best compared to the originals.
I do regret not buying FF6 on the Wii VC back in the day. ... oh well. At least it's on the SNES Mini, right?
As a collector, I do like to get a proper cart for the fun of it, but it's not a necessity by any means. I have absolutely no qualms using an emulator.
For example, I played Gargoyle's Quest (GB) and Demon's Crest (SNES) on NSO, but for whatever reason, Gargoyle's Quest II (NES) is not on NSO at the moment.
So I had no issue emulating it. Especially since this isn't an easy NES cart to get ahold of anyway. Not worth the price.
The last proper NES cart I played was Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, again because it's not on NSO. ...I played StarTropics 1 on NSO beforehand, and would have played Zoda's revenge on NSO too if it was available, despite owning the original cart.
I don't remember when this game was added to my collection though - I think I went through a phase of getting some American-only releases for my collection at one point or another, just for the exoticness I suppose. Heh. That's why I also own Dragon Warrior 1, 2, 3, and 4.
SNES stuff seems to be easier to find nowadays than NES - I can still find SNES games at CeX - in fact, I played Plok via a SNES cart I bought quite recently, and it wasn't too expensive.
@Zequio Last Judge is more manageable if you equip Magma Bell. Additionally, there is actually a second way into the Citadel through Sinner's Road if you don't want to fight Last Judge yet.
Whenever you come up against what seems like an insurmountable wall of difficulty in Silksong, there almost always is something else you can find that will help you overcome it if you just go and explore some more.
Okay that change to the fine pins quest is a good one. The previous quests about pilgrim shawls and craw pelts didn't have any random drop chance shenanigans going on, so the fact that the fine pins were random felt really off. Glad to see it changed to make more sense.
Well, I meant transfer from a Switch game. Of course all Pokémon have been transferrable since the beginning if you use Go and the 3DS games. ...but I don't play mobile games, and I'm especially not interested in something like Go that relies on your real world location. so I was hoping for Spinda to make it.
Well, this is a funny way of dealing with things - releasing first and asking questions later. to the point where they have to rename the whole game for some technical reasons.
I would have thought they would have decided on and implemented the trophies they wanted to include before release. Did they change their mind, or what?
Well. At least they're still working on Croc in some capacity - hopefully there's a Croc 2 remake in the works as well? I would enjoy a Croc ultimate pack that included Croc, Croc 2, and the two Game Boy Color games. (and maybe the J2ME games if we've been good?)
I don't particularly want to buy them individually because I kinda already have the originals.
After finishing Silksong thoroughly and enjoying it immensely, I decided to give Ori and the Blind Forest a try.
And to be honest, I did not like the gameplay all that much. Ori felt weirdly heavy to control, the camera feels too zoomed out, every enemy is just some kind of blob thing, and I really didn't like having to rely on enemies shooting projectiles at me in order to use some of my basic traversal mechanics. And I really did not like the trial-and-error escape sequences.
Maybe I'm just being overly harsh on it since I just came from Silksong which I loved so so much. But unfortunately, I just don't get the hype for Ori. It's cute I guess.
...it actually reminds me of when I finally played Limbo. I felt similarly not impressed with that game too, despite its popularity.
...
....
I don't want to spend this entire post being a sourpuss, so I'll also mention that I played Plok for the first time a few days ago too. I bought a SNES cart of Plok from CeX the other day for cheap. I only heard its name before, didn't know much about the game.
Plok was surprisingly reaally good, but I unfortunately couldn't beat it due to its extremely harsh checkpointing system. After dying too many times, it sends you waaaayyy back, which can be a huge demotivator. I guess I have to be good enough to not lose too many lives beforehand so I can learn the trickier levels before being sent back. I'll give it another try soon maybe. I quite enjoyed the aesthetic and humour of Plok.
I wanted to play more big RPGs (I Still have Lufia II in my to-do list) but I don't want to start another big game so close to Pokémon Legends Z-A's release. So I'll stick to smaller things for the moment.
... adding live and present humans to the canon of Pikmin is certainly something.
If this is just a cute animation for the heck of it (which Pikmin has done before) then so be it. But I'm really curious to see if humans will start appearing in actual Pikmin games. Because that would be a significant change to the tone of the game that I'm not sure would even still feel Pikminlike.
As for the short itself.... to be honest, I didn't find it very interesting to watch. Nothing really happens aside from baby's first steps, which is ok but not really special enough to dedicate an entire Nintendo produced animation to make happen.
aw, it would be nice if it included the original Yooka Laylee too since that one never got a Switch physical version as far as I know. Kinda weird to have a game that markets itself as a "replay" that doesn't include the original, right? how can you possibly replay it if it's your first time?
though on the bright side, my distaste for the Mana series directly led into my trying out the Ys series, and I became an Ys fanboy pretty much instantly. So there's that I suppose.
I'm well aware of how the term came about.
Originally "Metroidvania" was used by the Castlevania community to refer specifically to the Castlevania games with metroid-style maps. The term gained traction outside of the Castlevania fandom when more and more indie games were using a similar style and gaining popularity.
The term IGAvania was speifically created by Koji Igarashi for his Bloodstained Kickstarter. It's a completely made up marketing gimmick term, used so that IGA could refer to his previous works without actually invoking the names of Castlevania or Konami in the marketing for Bloodstained (and to avoid mention of Metroid and Nintendo too I suppose). It seems to have stuck with fans of IGA and his works, but I have never heard the term used by a wider audience. I'm okay with use of this term to specifically refer to IGA's works (which means not including Circle of the Moon) but I certainly don't want to use it as a catch all genre descriptor.
I really really did not like this game. There was no need to dumb down the gameplay so much because it's supposed to be for kids.
You can make a game good for kids without making it so bland for grownups - in fact, Nintendo is supposed to be the masters of this exact thing, aren't they?
If you are a Peach fan, just play SMB Wonder or SM 3D World.
...why are they going for an anime style? The trailer was all about "hey do you remember 80s games?" but then they show a modern anime look that doesn't fit the aesthetic of Double Dragon at all
@foursider it's literally a Mega Drive rom. They are planning on releasing it on physical Mega Drive cartridges for play on the actual 16-bit console later on. They just released in on Switch first
I'm playing Hollow Knight Silksong. I already beat the game and got 100% completion, now I am going for Steel Soul mode.
I'm surprised at just how much easier the earlygame is on a second playthrough. The final bosses really force you to become skilled at the game, and with this knowledge and skill, the early bosses that once gave me so much trouble are going down a lot more easily. It's interesting to realise this.
in Steel Soul mode, you're not allowed to die at all, otherwise your save file gets deleted. So I have to be extremely vigilant to always quit out the game the moment I get to low health to avoid this. I made a beeline to get the Fractured Mask item as soon as possible, and I plan to never take it off. This item saves you from lethal damage, which I feel is super necessary when dealing with all the double-damage-dealing bosses.
The only time where I felt like the difficulty might have been a little bit overboard was when fighting Last Judge, but then I learned some time later that there was an alternate path to the Citadel that bypasses this boss entirely, so now I am no longer of the opinion that the difficulty is overboard at any point.
The version I had first played when I was younger was the GBC Deluxe version, with all the bonus goodies and save files and all that. The challenge menu was great as just a general level select too, really allowed me to familiarise myself with the levels at my own pace.
heeey Nintendo, you can't do this to me when I'm still deep in Silksong! Should have just been content in the base game if they were gonna release it so soon anyways.
People who haven't even played the game shouldn't be calling this bad game design. That's judging it on a surface level without appreciating the surrounding context.
The game has bench signs everywhere, but the sign for this particular bench is different, it looks more makeshift than the regular sign.
The bench is located in an area that is already filled to the brim with traps, tripwires, floor switches, ambushes, and so much other nasty stuff, that a player should already be on edge when they reach this trap.
When you sit on the bench, the usual saving sound effect doesn't play immediately, giving an on-edge player a moment to quickly dodge it if they suspect something's up.
Just doing a tiny bit of extra exploring will let you disarm the trap anyway.
it's not bad game design. Yes, it definitely still can catch even savvy players off guard. But it's not bad game design even so.
Stop calling it bad game design if you've never even played the friggin game.
I thought it was a cool moment. The area has been full of traps to keep you on your toes, and this is the payoff for all that buildup. It's memorable and interesting.
Just because it's also a little unfair doesn't make it not worthy of being in the game imo.
The before icon is the one they're using for the Steam library PC icon which was designed to look fine at 32x32 pixels.
I suppose when asked to submit an icon, they didn't realise that it was for the big Switch home menu one, so they submitted the small one and it kind of just ended up like this.
I've seen this happen a couple other times, for example when West of Loathing was new (which was... a long time ago, wow), they also had their small Steam library icon as the home menu icon, until they fixed it with an update.
The new home menu icon is now what you would expect - it's the logo and the key art.
Comments 2,538
Re: Talking Point: What's The Best Firework Sequence In A Video Game?
the real answer is probably something like Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 that lets you design your own fireworks show.
Re: The Atari 50 Pac-Man Expansion Launches On Switch Next Week
@MatoFilipovic
The fact that Atari 50 takes the form of a documentary first, playable collection second, is what makes it an appealing product in my opinion.
It's an interactive history lesson.
I agree that the majority of Atari 2600 games are not particularly worthwhile nowadays, but the history is very interesting. I feel like this package has fully understood this fact, because it needs to be more than just the old games in order to be interesting to a modern audience. They pulled it off perfectly.
...that being said, I did legitimately find it fun to play Adventure tbh, that game was ahead of its time
Re: The Atari 50 Pac-Man Expansion Launches On Switch Next Week
...are there plans to make a third physical with this included? or am I safe to get the DLC from the eShop lol
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Mega Dimension DLC News Coming Tomorrow
I just finished pretty much all there is to do in the base game - I just got that grindy-as-heck 1000 trainer battles research mission done, and with all the money I accumulated from doing that, I bought all the fashion Lumiose has to offer too.
Now I'm kind of just waiting until I will be able to get the Delphox and Chesnaught mega stones. I wish they weren't limited behind online events.
The game does feel a little light on content to be honest. As annoying as it is that we'll have to pay so much to get more, I am looking forward to it because I do enjoy the game.
Overall I feel like Legends Arceus was a much more complete package compared to this game.
Re: Ys vs. Trails In The Sky: Alternative Saga Update Enhances Resolution On Switch 2
I tried the PSP version a couple years ago and was not all that impressed by the gameplay. It's a fighting game where you have to level-grind your characters. The main point of the game seems to be just grinding for grinding's sake.
I do like the idea of Ys Seven's combat system being expanded into a fighting game, but I dunno, I'm not sure it really works that well in practice? I'm happy more Japan-exclusive Ys games are getting localised though, that's really cool to see.
Has anyone played this and had a good time with it?
Re: Back Page: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Fit Check - Celebrating Lumiose Fashion Week In Style
As a completionist, I like to buy every single clothing item in Pokémon. It costs a ton of Poké money though. I looked up how much it would cost to get all the outfits in Legends Z-A, and it's around 7 million. Guess I'll accumulate it while also going for that 1000 battles research task, eh.
If you can get 30 battles in a single night in the Battle Zones, your money multiplier is 3x which ain't too bad. Can get 400,000 or so with that if you get enough medals
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (1st November)
I finished the main story of Pokémon Legends Z-A yesterday, now I'm in the postgame. I'm having a good time. The realtime combat is quite interesting because it is truly different than normal Pokémon combat, yet it still retains a lot of familiar elements. I kind of enjoy how it gives life to moves that were always outclassed by other moves - there's now a distinct reason to use Rock Blast over Rock Slide for example because Rock Blast is quick and travels in a straight line. I think it's really cool what they've managed with the combat here, even though I definitely don't think it should replace standard combat in the mainline games or anything.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Ranked Battles Season 2 Start Date And Rewards Revealed
@TheBigK
literally, just do it with your ingame team. rank k will take 1 hour to reach. even if you lose spectacularly, you usually gain enough points to earn ranks anyway. it's really really really really lenient.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Ranked Battles Season 2 Start Date And Rewards Revealed
I was initially worried about these events, since it seems like a tall order to rank up so high for the seasonal prize... but then I actually tried to play it. I won the Greninjite from the first event within an hour.
It's not like regular competitive Pokémon whatsoever. It's more akin to Super Smash Bros free-for-all with items. The player with the most KOs wins, and a KO counts even if you're just finishing off the last HP of someone else's opponent.
So if you're worried that your team isn't trained enough for these events, just try it anyway. It'll be okay.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
@Rhaoulos
Metroid Prime 2 was developed in Texas. It's very possible that Echoes was the original name and Dark Echoes was the alternate name that came afterwards.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
@HammerGalladeBro
That's just the sort of amazing pointless detail I love to hear about haha.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
I think the text on the side of the JP box is supposed to make it
feel more cinematic.
It's not written in Japanese, it's not literally intended to be your primary source for release date information. It's there to give the artwork a more "Hollywood movie poster" feel that Japanese sci-fi fans would find appealing.
I do wonder about Dark Echoes though - maybe the "adjective noun" style of subtitle feels more comfortable to Japanese fans too. But to be honest, I kind of like it better than just Echoes myself.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (25th October)
Nothing too bizarre for me this time - just Pokémon Legends Z-A.
It's fine so far. But it's not as interesting as Legends Arceus by any means. I'm not sure about the real-time combat tbh, but I suppose they're using the Legends series to experiment with the established mechanics. Which is commendable.
It doesn't have the feeling of being on a grand adventure though. I think they should have made Lumiose way way way bigger tbh.
Re: Sakurai Has No Plans For Kirby Air Riders DLC: "Everything Is Here"
the DK Bananza and Pokémon Z-A teams should take note.
It's so annoying when they decide "okay now this part of the game, we'll get 'em to spend more in order to play". Like come on. Your desire for more profit outweighs your desire for doing right by your fans, and it's so obvious.
Re: Kirby Air Riders Direct #2: Every Announcement - How Would You Rate it?
I love that Sakurai confirmed that no sequels and no DLCs are planned - because he's putting every piece of content he possibly can in the base game right from the start.
Compare this to what Pokémon just did with its £25 extra to spend on the Mega Dimension DLC, available to purchase on day one.... there's no contest. Sakurai's games are the real deal.
He's still upholding the spirit of simple fun that videogames had before online storefronts. It's great to see.
Re: Metroid Prime 1-3 Art Book Somehow Teases And Debunks An Echoes Remake
@canaryfarmer
Remakes should never have less content than the original, in my opinion.
Re: Surprise! Pikmin 4 Is Getting A Free Content Update On Switch Next Month
... they're not including an option to turn off the sticky auto-target thing, right? ...
Re: Anniversary: SNES Action RPG 'Terranigma' Is 30 Years Old Today, And It's Still A 10/10 In Our Book
Overall I really love this game. But when I played it, I did have some issues with some of the game design.
I think the magic is implemented very poorly. It is a hassle to use magic because you can only have one thing equipped at a time.
And if you try to use a magic spell from your menu without equipping it, the unpausing animation forces you to face south, so you can only fire downwards. ... Quite a bad oversight.
Additionally, I didn't like how the majority of boss fights completely lock you out of being able to use your spells arbitrarily - with the exception of that Bloody Mary fight that requires you to use magic. ...but up until that point, the game has been conditioning you to think that boss fights are no-magic zones, so it's just kind of confusing.
The other big issue I had was with the pacing - the first half of the game is dungeon after dungeon after dungeon, while the last half of the game is sidequest after sidequest after sidequest. I think the pacing is quite unbalanced, and it can lead to fatigue.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Play NES Games These Days?
A mix of all options for me. if it's on NSO, then that's pretty convenient since I'm always on my Switch anyway. But not all games I want to play are on NSO.
Many games I still only have via Virtual Console - for example Final Fantasy IV (aka II) is installed on my Wii, and that's my preferred place to play it even now, especially since the Pixel Remasters aren't the best compared to the originals.
I do regret not buying FF6 on the Wii VC back in the day. ... oh well. At least it's on the SNES Mini, right?
As a collector, I do like to get a proper cart for the fun of it, but it's not a necessity by any means. I have absolutely no qualms using an emulator.
For example, I played Gargoyle's Quest (GB) and Demon's Crest (SNES) on NSO, but for whatever reason, Gargoyle's Quest II (NES) is not on NSO at the moment.
So I had no issue emulating it. Especially since this isn't an easy NES cart to get ahold of anyway. Not worth the price.
The last proper NES cart I played was Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II, again because it's not on NSO. ...I played StarTropics 1 on NSO beforehand, and would have played Zoda's revenge on NSO too if it was available, despite owning the original cart.
I don't remember when this game was added to my collection though - I think I went through a phase of getting some American-only releases for my collection at one point or another, just for the exoticness I suppose. Heh. That's why I also own Dragon Warrior 1, 2, 3, and 4.
SNES stuff seems to be easier to find nowadays than NES - I can still find SNES games at CeX - in fact, I played Plok via a SNES cart I bought quite recently, and it wasn't too expensive.
Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Receives Another Update, Here Are The Patch Notes
@Zequio
Last Judge is more manageable if you equip Magma Bell.
Additionally, there is actually a second way into the Citadel through Sinner's Road if you don't want to fight Last Judge yet.
Whenever you come up against what seems like an insurmountable wall of difficulty in Silksong, there almost always is something else you can find that will help you overcome it if you just go and explore some more.
Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong Receives Another Update, Here Are The Patch Notes
Okay that change to the fine pins quest is a good one. The previous quests about pilgrim shawls and craw pelts didn't have any random drop chance shenanigans going on, so the fact that the fine pins were random felt really off. Glad to see it changed to make more sense.
Re: PSA: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Already Being Datamined, Watch Out For Spoilers
@RaGe22
Well, I meant transfer from a Switch game. Of course all Pokémon have been transferrable since the beginning if you use Go and the 3DS games. ...but I don't play mobile games, and I'm especially not interested in something like Go that relies on your real world location. so I was hoping for Spinda to make it.
Re: Croc's Switch Remaster Returns This Week With A Free 'Platinum Edition' Update
Well, this is a funny way of dealing with things - releasing first and asking questions later. to the point where they have to rename the whole game for some technical reasons.
I would have thought they would have decided on and implemented the trophies they wanted to include before release. Did they change their mind, or what?
Well. At least they're still working on Croc in some capacity - hopefully there's a Croc 2 remake in the works as well? I would enjoy a Croc ultimate pack that included Croc, Croc 2, and the two Game Boy Color games. (and maybe the J2ME games if we've been good?)
I don't particularly want to buy them individually because I kinda already have the originals.
Re: PSA: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Is Already Being Datamined, Watch Out For Spoilers
so it looks like there'll be no Spinda in this game huh?
Dang, it will literally be the only Pokémon impossible to transfer to Home. They really ought to fix that
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th October)
@GregamanX
I made a blog post about Gimmick 2 in March if you want to see someone talk about it
https://benjysgames.blogspot.com/2025/03/gimmick-2.html
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (11th October)
After finishing Silksong thoroughly and enjoying it immensely, I decided to give Ori and the Blind Forest a try.
And to be honest, I did not like the gameplay all that much. Ori felt weirdly heavy to control, the camera feels too zoomed out, every enemy is just some kind of blob thing, and I really didn't like having to rely on enemies shooting projectiles at me in order to use some of my basic traversal mechanics. And I really did not like the trial-and-error escape sequences.
Maybe I'm just being overly harsh on it since I just came from Silksong which I loved so so much. But unfortunately, I just don't get the hype for Ori. It's cute I guess.
...it actually reminds me of when I finally played Limbo. I felt similarly not impressed with that game too, despite its popularity.
...
....
I don't want to spend this entire post being a sourpuss, so I'll also mention that I played Plok for the first time a few days ago too. I bought a SNES cart of Plok from CeX the other day for cheap. I only heard its name before, didn't know much about the game.
Plok was surprisingly reaally good, but I unfortunately couldn't beat it due to its extremely harsh checkpointing system. After dying too many times, it sends you waaaayyy back, which can be a huge demotivator. I guess I have to be good enough to not lose too many lives beforehand so I can learn the trickier levels before being sent back. I'll give it another try soon maybe. I quite enjoyed the aesthetic and humour of Plok.
I wanted to play more big RPGs (I Still have Lufia II in my to-do list) but I don't want to start another big game so close to Pokémon Legends Z-A's release. So I'll stick to smaller things for the moment.
Re: Final Fantasy VII / VIII Remastered And IX Physical Releases Confirmed For North America
I have these physically already. Twin Pack was released in European regions iirc, and FF9 I got from Play Asia.
Would have been more interesting if they made a new version as a triple pack.
Or maybe throw in Chrono Cross and make it a quadruple pack? No?
...Chrono Cross I also had to get from Play Asia.
I guess it's good they're making these versions more available though.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's SNES Library With Three More Titles
ok Mario & Wario makes sense, they just went through all that effort of mouse support for Mario Paint after all.
Fatal Fury is great, fighters are perfect for the pick-up-and-play nature of the NSO.
And.... Bubsy is a very unexpected choice, because we literally just got that collection lol. How bizarre.
Re: Nintendo Updates Animated Short Film 'Close To You' With Some Familiar Faces
... adding live and present humans to the canon of Pikmin is certainly something.
If this is just a cute animation for the heck of it (which Pikmin has done before) then so be it. But I'm really curious to see if humans will start appearing in actual Pikmin games. Because that would be a significant change to the tone of the game that I'm not sure would even still feel Pikminlike.
As for the short itself.... to be honest, I didn't find it very interesting to watch. Nothing really happens aside from baby's first steps, which is ok but not really special enough to dedicate an entire Nintendo produced animation to make happen.
Re: 'Scurge: Hive' Spreads Its Isometric, Metroid-y Retro Virus To Switch This Week
I'm not familiar with this game - are there any significant differences between GBA and DS versions?
Re: Yooka-Replaylee Physical Confirmed For December, Includes Extra Goodies
aw, it would be nice if it included the original Yooka Laylee too since that one never got a Switch physical version as far as I know. Kinda weird to have a game that markets itself as a "replay" that doesn't include the original, right? how can you possibly replay it if it's your first time?
Re: Review: Fire Emblem Shadows (Mobile) - Flat F2P Folly With Simplistic Strategy & Social Deduction
companies really don't care about tarnishing their brands if they can snag a few whales for profit, huh.
I used to think Nintendo was above this
Re: Feature: Get A Job - 30 Years On, Seiken Densetsu 3's Class System Is Still One Of The Best
I played this game for the first time via Collection of Mana in 2023, and I did not have a positive opinion on it.
I wrote about my thoughts here if anyone's interested
https://benjysgames.blogspot.com/2023/04/trials-of-mana.html
though on the bright side, my distaste for the Mana series directly led into my trying out the Ys series, and I became an Ys fanboy pretty much instantly. So there's that I suppose.
Re: Another Pixel Art Zelda-Like Is On The Way, But This One Stars A Pig
@darkswabber
I'm well aware of how the term came about.
Originally "Metroidvania" was used by the Castlevania community to refer specifically to the Castlevania games with metroid-style maps. The term gained traction outside of the Castlevania fandom when more and more indie games were using a similar style and gaining popularity.
The term IGAvania was speifically created by Koji Igarashi for his Bloodstained Kickstarter. It's a completely made up marketing gimmick term, used so that IGA could refer to his previous works without actually invoking the names of Castlevania or Konami in the marketing for Bloodstained (and to avoid mention of Metroid and Nintendo too I suppose). It seems to have stuck with fans of IGA and his works, but I have never heard the term used by a wider audience. I'm okay with use of this term to specifically refer to IGA's works (which means not including Circle of the Moon) but I certainly don't want to use it as a catch all genre descriptor.
Re: Another Pixel Art Zelda-Like Is On The Way, But This One Stars A Pig
@darkswabber
I was using the term Zeldalike before I had even ever heard of Dark Souls lol. Why does Souls get special treatment, hm?
The term that personally irks me the most is "metroidvania" because it's just weird. Metroidlike would be a better term imo.
Re: Nintendo Music App Adds Princess Peach Album In Latest Update
I really really did not like this game.
There was no need to dumb down the gameplay so much because it's supposed to be for kids.
You can make a game good for kids without making it so bland for grownups - in fact, Nintendo is supposed to be the masters of this exact thing, aren't they?
If you are a Peach fan, just play SMB Wonder or SM 3D World.
Re: Beat 'Em Up Classic Double Dragon Gets A Modern Revival On Switch This October
...why are they going for an anime style? The trailer was all about "hey do you remember 80s games?" but then they show a modern anime look that doesn't fit the aesthetic of Double Dragon at all
Re: Hollow Knight: Silksong: All Bosses In Order - Locations & Rewards
It's possible to reach Voltvyrm without Silk Soar if you do some precise jumps, which means it can qualify as an act 2 boss if you like.
Re: Review: Earthion (Switch) - A New 16-Bit Shooter That's Bold, Inventive & Hugely Enjoyable
@foursider
it's literally a Mega Drive rom.
They are planning on releasing it on physical Mega Drive cartridges for play on the actual 16-bit console later on. They just released in on Switch first
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (20th September)
I'm playing Hollow Knight Silksong.
I already beat the game and got 100% completion, now I am going for Steel Soul mode.
I'm surprised at just how much easier the earlygame is on a second playthrough. The final bosses really force you to become skilled at the game, and with this knowledge and skill, the early bosses that once gave me so much trouble are going down a lot more easily. It's interesting to realise this.
in Steel Soul mode, you're not allowed to die at all, otherwise your save file gets deleted. So I have to be extremely vigilant to always quit out the game the moment I get to low health to avoid this.
I made a beeline to get the Fractured Mask item as soon as possible, and I plan to never take it off. This item saves you from lethal damage, which I feel is super necessary when dealing with all the double-damage-dealing bosses.
Re: Review: Hollow Knight: Silksong - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition - Woven To Brutal Perfection
The only time where I felt like the difficulty might have been a little bit overboard was when fighting Last Judge, but then I learned some time later that there was an alternate path to the Citadel that bypasses this boss entirely, so now I am no longer of the opinion that the difficulty is overboard at any point.
Re: Opinion: I'm Celebrating Super Mario Bros.' 40th Anniversary By Finally Finishing It
The version I had first played when I was younger was the GBC Deluxe version, with all the bonus goodies and save files and all that. The challenge menu was great as just a general level select too, really allowed me to familiarise myself with the levels at my own pace.
Re: Surprise! Donkey Kong Bananza Is Getting DLC, And It's Out Today
heeey Nintendo, you can't do this to me when I'm still deep in Silksong!
Should have just been content in the base game if they were gonna release it so soon anyways.
Re: Dragon Quest VII Gets Reimagined For Switch And Switch 2 In Early 2026
what happened to the "Fragments of the Forgotten Past" subtitle? I thought they loved to give these things as long-winded titles as possible
Re: Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 Bundle Confirmed For Switch, Launching October
But... what about 3D All-Stars lol. what the heck Nintendo. They really want us to forget it ever existed, don't they?
Re: Opinion: Silksong's Tight Construction Is Exactly What I Need After Too Much Open-World Loafing
@N8tiveT3ch
Hollow Knight does not suck.
Re: "I Have No Words" - Silksong Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over One Bench
People who haven't even played the game shouldn't be calling this bad game design. That's judging it on a surface level without appreciating the surrounding context.
The game has bench signs everywhere, but the sign for this particular bench is different, it looks more makeshift than the regular sign.
The bench is located in an area that is already filled to the brim with traps, tripwires, floor switches, ambushes, and so much other nasty stuff, that a player should already be on edge when they reach this trap.
When you sit on the bench, the usual saving sound effect doesn't play immediately, giving an on-edge player a moment to quickly dodge it if they suspect something's up.
Just doing a tiny bit of extra exploring will let you disarm the trap anyway.
it's not bad game design. Yes, it definitely still can catch even savvy players off guard. But it's not bad game design even so.
Stop calling it bad game design if you've never even played the friggin game.
Re: "I Have No Words" - Silksong Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over One Bench
I thought it was a cool moment. The area has been full of traps to keep you on your toes, and this is the payoff for all that buildup. It's memorable and interesting.
Just because it's also a little unfair doesn't make it not worthy of being in the game imo.
Re: Sunsoft Has A "Major Announcement" To Share Next Week
@HalBailman
for NSO subscribers, Blaster Master and Journey to Silius are on the NES app, and Blaster Master Enemy Below is on the GB app.
Re: UFO 50 Has Been Updated On Switch, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@ImpromptuR
I decided to take before / after screenshots before I downloaded the update
https://imgur.com/a/7gANvjS
The before icon is the one they're using for the Steam library PC icon which was designed to look fine at 32x32 pixels.
I suppose when asked to submit an icon, they didn't realise that it was for the big Switch home menu one, so they submitted the small one and it kind of just ended up like this.
I've seen this happen a couple other times, for example when West of Loathing was new (which was... a long time ago, wow), they also had their small Steam library icon as the home menu icon, until they fixed it with an update.
The new home menu icon is now what you would expect - it's the logo and the key art.