EarthboundBenjy

There are still some issues in the game, such as the controller UI appearing whenever you so much as nudge a second controller while in a one-player game, forcing you to disconnect one of them every time it happens rather than just letting you have two controllers on at once.

....and this inability to have two controllers connected during a one-player game actually makes a minor piece of bonus content inaccessible in the Switch version currently.

Hopefully they fix this issue in a future patch. Was a little disappointing to see it wasn't addressed this time.

The sleep mode issue has not been fixed either - the game still keeps counting playtime hours while the console is in sleep mode, leading to some inaccurate times. Mossmouth did say on Bluesky that this was going to be fixed in a later patch, which is good.

Additionally there are still some bugs in some of the games that haven't been fixed yet. For example there's a softlock in Cyber Owls where the forklift key fails to spawn, which can be a real moodkiller if Octavio's stage was the last of the four you selected since you lose a lot of progress.
Hopefully these can be fixed too.

I might want to get this in the future. Bubsy 3D is a historically interesting game, I want to try it out one of these days.

Also the collection includes a GB version and even a Jaguar game? That's really good in my view, it shows they're really going all-in to do right by the fans. Seems like a solid collection.

Doesn't seem like this changes much. Reducing prices of benches and bellways is fine with me, money is pretty tight early on, and whether you have enough money is entirely dependent on how often you die. So players can get overly punished for being less skilled. This change seems fine.

Regarding Moorwing, seems like I accidentally skipped it completely without realising. Apparently there are ways to bypass this boss if you complete certain quests first. But if you don't complete the quests in time, it becomes mandatory? I don't know lol.
If it was just an optional boss, I wouldn't see the need for the changes, but if there are scenarios where it becomes mandatory, then I guess it makes sense.

The hardest mandatory boss I've seen so far is the one at the end of Act 1 just before the Citadel. Interesting to see no patch notes for this one. Because dang, I can definitely see players struggling to progress at this point.

fun fact about Golden Sun The Lost Age music

If you go into the battle mode lobby from the main menu, there is an NPC in the lower left corner who acts as a hidden sound test if you talk to her while holding the L or R buttons. She will let you listen to music you've heard in-game, or if you're using a cleared save file (saved after beating the final boss), then she will have every music track available, including all the music from Golden Sun 1 as well.

Always thought this was a cool little easter egg.

...does this mean there are unfixable bugs in the physical GBA cartridge version, then?

The only essential Switch 2 game out right now is DK Bananza imo. Absolutely amazing game that was honestly worth getting the Switch 2 for all by itself. Very happy with this.

Mario Kart World is the least-appealing Mario Kart game I have ever seen. I'm glad I decided to stay away from it. From all I've heard, the open world is largely aimless, and the online modes are ruined by the intermission tracks.

The other games I know I'll want soon are Pokémon Z-A and Metroid Prime 4, which aren't even Switch 2 exclusive. And next year, Rhythm Heaven Groove, which again is on Switch 1.

The next must-play fully Switch 2 game for me will be Kirby Air Riders. Very much looking forward to that.

....after Air Riders is out, that'll be.... two games. mmm. Seems a little light, doesn't it?

Played for a couple of hours today - it's a good game so far. Already seen five different locales, and everything feels pretty good. I agree that the game feels more challenging right from the start, though maybe that's more unfamiliarity than anything else, since I do know the first game quite extensively at this point.

I'm looking forward to seeing how much there is to do as I keep going.

Well. The fact that this screenshot shows Forsaken in the regular app and not in the Mature app means that, at the very least, this build is not intended for the audience to get. So it's still very possible that the other games are there just for debug or emulation testing purposes and are not intended to be included.

@The_Nintendo_Pedant

If you want more Rayman 1 levels there's always Rayman Designer and Rayman By His Fans and all that stuff. It's not really new content, just more levels.

I do enjoy Rayman 1 a lot though, it is a favourite 2D platformer of mine, the vibes are great, especially with the weird locations like Band Land and Picture City. I love how the final level is a cake world, it's just so atypical and fun.

If you struggle beating Rayman 1, there's always the DSiWare version that gives you way more health. GBA version is also decently easier than the original.

@AJWolfTill
I've done this for strictly Switch 1 games.
For example, I played UFO 50 entirely on my Switch 2, and with NSO I have downloaded the cloud save to my Switch 1 and it works fine.

My question is regarding the Upgrade version. Will installing the upgrade pack turn the software into a "different app" that is not compatible with Switch 1 any longer? And therefore would it have its own save data? Or will both the Switch 1 vanilla version and the Switch 2 Upgraded version share the same save data?

@Vegeta937
Lol. Yes, it's certainly an option.

If I was going over to my bro's place primarily to game, or primarily to show my bro stuff on my Switch 2, then yeah. This option would make sense. But that's not actually the case.

The next time i'll be over there, it'll be for babysitting purposes. I got a new baby niece. :3 so I don't want to bring too much extraneous gaming gear with me, when it's very possible I'm not even going to be using it at all.

That's one the the things about the Switch - it's so versatile, I can play it on the Tube en route to my bro's place, and then plug it into their dock if I find myself with a moment to enjoy it on the TV. Without it being a big deal at all.
It doesn't have to be a planned thing in order for it to work out.

The introduction of the Switch 2 has complicated this somewhat - they don't have a Switch 2 dock over there, so the convenience is lessened. I now have to specifically want to play a Switch 1 game if I want this incidental convenience factor to work out.
When I was playing through DK Bananza, I just played entirely in handheld mode when out and about, even when I was visiting my brother's place

There was no need to take the dock along, since that would have given the impression that my primary interest was to definitely show them the game on the big screen, which isn't the case. I was only showing them DK Bananza incidentally while we were waiting for other things to happen (people getting ready to go out etc).

ok. so basically. yes, practically, I could bring my switch 2 dock over and it wouldn't be a hardship to do so. But it does affect the social dynamic of the situation quite a bit. It conveys a definitive intent that I don't necessarily want to convey, you know?

My preference for the future of Rayman would be a new 3D adventure like Rayman 2 or 3.

I don't know if Ubisoft has it in them to actually make a 3D mascot platformer in this day and age.

I never really got into Origins and Legends that much to be honest. Maybe I should give them another shot, since everyone says they're great.

I think I was put off because they did not feel especially Raymanlike in their gameplay - the helicopter hair and the projectile punching were just not really a part of the design all that much - to the extent that you could even play as all sorts of non-Rayman character skins with the exact same moveset.

I would like a new game that truly feels Raymanlike and makes full use of his character traits. Helicopter hair, extending punching hands, and maybe some other cool things - do you remember that idle animation from Rayman 2 where Rayman dribbles his torso like a basketball? Wouldn't it be cool if he could "throw" himself like a basketball as a real movement mechanic?

I don't want another game where all the other characters can just be playable skins over Rayman. I really want them to lean hard in the detached limbs design and make something truly unique to Rayman.

Does anyone know if save data is compatible between Switch 2 upgrade versions and their original Switch 1 releases? (i know silksong isn't out yet, but I mean, like, in general?)

Because i plan to get this on my Switch 2 with the upgrade pack, but if I want to take the game to my brother's home and play it on their TV, I'm gonna have to use my Switch 1 since they don't have a switch 2 dock over there. If I want to do this, will I need to avoid getting the upgrade pack, or will it be fine?

I mean... I've played text-only games like NetHack before. Never with kanji characters though! Sounds cool. I hope it doesn't except me to know how to read them though. 😅

everyone who enjoys playing Virtual Console, enjoys the Mini Consoles, enjoys browsing the NSO lineup, who buys retro compilations, who checks out SEGA AGES, Arcade Archives, EGGConsole and all these kind of things etc.... YOU NEED TO GET UFO 50! If you have any interest at all in retro games, UFO 50 is an absolute must-play in my opinion. It truly understands the appeal of playing retro games and browsing a retro library, and replicates it perfectly in a modern package.

where's the option for "I've beaten it multiple times when it was new, and watched countless letsplays over the years, so I don't need to play it again now"

in my opinion, if you have a choice between not including a character, or only including a soulless husk of that character.... you shouldn't bother. If they couldn't do the characters justice, they should not be included. I feel like it's disrespectful to the fans and comes across as pure cynical branding and marketing, and not as a fun treat.

this is a bit of a nitpick but. ... if the goal of Yooka-Replaylee is to "replace" the original Yooka-Laylee by making it basically improved in every way, then I find the title of the game to be a bit of a problem - putting "Replay"lee front and center like that draws attention to the fact that there was originally a previous version. This is all well and good for fans who played the original, but it might make newcomers think twice about jumping in with this version, if the title might give the feeling they're missing out on something.
I dunno. Is their demographic purely just fans of the original who wish it was better? That's a pretty small demographic

I logged in to get this Chien Pao, and to my surprise a Wo Chien was also available. Are they doing all four of them? Or did I miss the other two and they happened already?

don't underestimate UFO 50. It's the real deal. it actually is 50 games in one. and they're all interesting and unique.

i never understood the fact that pokémon pronunciations are debated so much when there is literally an anime episode about every single monster dubbed into every langauge imaginable. If you're unsure, just check how the characters say it. I don't get why there's ever a debate about it.

the only pronunciation that makes sense to contest is Arceus, because early material such as Pokémon Battle Revolution on Wii did have a soft C, whereas nowadays it's a hard C. that's the only one that has changed as far as I know

for someone who has not played this series, is Guardains of Azuma a good entry point?

I will complain about game key cards for the foreseeable future.

It's possible that publishers were not expecting them to have this kind of backlash, and so they went all-in on them, thinking it'd all be fine and dandy.

I'm very curious to see whether the backlash will affect plans for the future. Or maybe Nintendo will start offering publishers cheaper physical options, and we might see a change that way.

Vainger - A mini Metroid style game, with the added ability to flip gravity at any time.
The adventure is shorter than I would preferred personally (it's not as big as Super Metroid), but what is there is very good, and the room layouts are designed cleverly to be able to accommodate the gravity-flipping mechanics, with new mechanics being introduced that interact with it too (such as enemies that only chase you if you're upside-down for example). A very clever little Metroidlike game.

Grimstone - an actual JRPG is in here. It's a 15-20 hour oldschool-style JRPG. The longest game in the collection. It's not a typical fantasy setting though - the theming for this game is "cowboys in hell"... the vibes are super cool. The gameplay is definitely on the grindy side in terms of encounters, as you might expect. Encounters are visible on the overworld, so you can occasionally avoid them if you maneuver carefully. Overall, I really enjoy this game, though your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for classic JRPGs, because this very much is unapologetically one of those.

Night Manor - a point-and-click horror adventure game. You explore a creepy mansion, picking up items, finding clues, and figuring out which items to use where, in true classic adventure-game style. This game has such a great mood, and the horror elements are played straight. This is just a good point-and-click game too - the puzzles are not too esoteric, and the mystery is interesting and compelling.

Cyber Owls - a game designed as an homage to all the "cool" mascot characters you'd often see in classic games - it's like a TMNT or Battletoads kind of vibe, with a mix of GI Joe for good measure. ...but with owl characters. Each of the four playable owls has their own gameplay style - a beat 'em up, an Operation Wolf style shooter, a Metal Gear style stealth game, and a vehicle section. This game very much captures the "feel" of what so many NES games were like back then, even if the end result is a bit of a messy mishmash of genres. It's fun even though it's silly and doesn't always mesh well.

Ok that's eight games. There's 42 more than what I've mentioned. Go play them yourself lol.

Alrighty. People in the comments want info about the game specifics that this review is not providing.

I've played and beaten all 50 games, so I suppose I'll talk briefly about some of the standouts in the collection. Not going to mention all 50 of course, just a sample platter:

Barbuta - The "metroidvania" mentioned in the review. It is the first game on the list, and is the "oldest"-feeling game in the collection, deliberately designed as an homage to oldschool screen-by-screen exploration mazes that you might find on Commodore or Spectrum back in the day. Think Dizzy, or Jet Set Willy, and the like. This is generally a hit-or-miss game for many fans, as it is slow-paced. It is a bold move for them to put such an "unimpressive"-looking game as the first impression for the whole collection.

Mortol - A sidescrolling puzzle-platformer where you must die in order to progress - you play as expendable soldiers who willingly sacrifice themselves to create a path forward - either by exploding themselves to break walls (Lemmings, anyone?), or by turning into a platform themselves. Your remaining lives will carry on over to the next levels, so don't waste too many people! This is an extremely clever puzzle-platforming game, and each new level introduces new mechanics and stage elements that interact with the idea of expendable lives (for example, lighting oneself on fire to burn a path forwards).

Mooncat - An extremely bizarre sidescrolling platforming game with completely unique controls. This is an artistic game that does not care to explain itself in the slightest. You play as a wobbly thing who seems to be looking for something. It's short and not so difficult to complete, but there are hidden paths to discover that give it replay value. It's difficult to describe here, but the vibes are otherworldly. A standout just for its sheer weirdness for sure.

Rail Heist - This is a stealth action puzzle thing. You play as wanted outlaws on a train, who must avoid being seen by the trigger-happy lawmen as you search for the loot. There are a lot of emergent possibilities and interactions in this game you can use to create your own solutions - you can pick up any crates and barrels lying around, you can punch through most walls, you can stack items to create impromptu stairs, and all sorts of other shenanigans. The lawmen will react to your gunfire sound, which can be used as a distraction . The game is semi-turn based - The outlaws and lawmen take turns being able to move, automatically shooting in their line of fire when it's not their turn. I've never seen a game with this kind of setup before, it's really unique and very fun.

9/10 is too low a score for this game. This is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of game release.

I'm playing Lufia and the Fortress of Doom on emulator.

I wasn't expecting it to be quite as identical to Dragon Quest as it is. Wow. Now I feel bad that I haven't yet played all the real Dragon Quest games before playing a "knock-off" haha.

The reason I'm playing this game is because everyone seems to love Lufia II. So I wanted to start playing this series from the start in order to see for myself.

Overall I'm having a good time though.

@Nabbit01
The main thing that comes to mind is the "quibble race", the horse betting simulation game I mentioned earlier - it's possible to sabotage your opponent's Quibbles by feeding them poison, or boost your Quibble by giving them performance-enhancing drugs. They are not really animals though, they are silly cartoon aliens that run on two legs.

As for animal cruelty...

There is an RPG-style game where an old, one-eyed dog can be selected as a party member, and just like any other party members, they can lose all their HP and need to be resurrected in town.

Two games involve intentionally killing chickens - one game involves placing live chickens next to campfires in order to turn them into roast chickens, and one other game involves throwing chickens into the line of fire of some very trigger-happy gunmen as a distraction.

Again, it's all cartoony shenanigans and none of this is depicted realistically.

@Nabbit01
Dead bodies and blood, and a killer with a cleaver who chases and occasionally jumpscares the player.

It's all pixel art, so nothing realistically grotesque. But it is definitely more intense contentwise than any of the other games in the selection, and it even comes with an in-game content warning when you boot it up.

@Suketoudara
One of the games is simulated horse betting. And gambling makes things 18+ according to PEGI. That's pretty much the only reason why. All the other games are fine, though there's also one horror-themed game that might've made it a 12+ otherwise.

best game best game best game best game best game

i was obsessed with this game last year.
300 hours of playtime. got all cherries. ready to do it all over again on switch!!!!

@iNintendo

The focus of this game is mainly on the story and characters, yes.
There does exist some RPG gameplay stuff in terms of difficult boss fights that require you to think about who equips which items, and which healing items to bring and all that. So I'd definitely say this is an RPG. It just doesn't have EXP in the traditional sense.

Not sure what you mean by "try hard dialogue" to be honest. (though there is a scene where Susie calls Kris a "tryhard" in chapter 3 lol) I guess the style of humour is not your thing? I personally love the writing in this game.

The difference between violence or peacefulness doesn't affect the way the story progresses, but what Ralsei says at the start does hint toward something important coming from it - if you solve everything with violence, "You may not find the result favorable" he says.
There do exist scenes that are different depending on if you are peaceful or violent, though the overall trajectory of the story is not affected. At least so far, with the four chapters we have at the moment.
It's definitely a story thing more than a gameplay thing, that's true.

If you are not enjoying the characters and dialogue, then I guess there isn't much else going on in the game. I'd say, stick around at least until you've tried chapter 2 - I found chapter 2's Cyber World more fun than chapter 1's Card Kingdom personally, so maybe it'll just take a bit longer until you start feeling it. But otherwise, yeah. The game is what it is, and if that's not your thing, then so be it, you know?

oh finally, the spincake bug has been fixed. I was wondering what the deal with that was.

And I guess they added a new method to get the trip ticket too? Interesting - I thought one of the main points of the shadow mantle bonus fight was that it turned off all the TVs in TV World, so I wonder how they changed it so that the trip ticket is still obtainable?

@GoldenSunRM
oh I just meant, put the app on the shop as available for download. so I wouldn't need a separate smart device to run it. ...But actually being able to customise the Switch UI with Nintendo Music would actually be really cool

For some reason it hadn't registered to me until now that there's a new 2D Ninja Gaiden and a new 2D Shinobi at the same time. haha

i don't generally use my phone for anything other than the web browser and text messages, so I honestly wish they would just bring Nintendo Music to the Switch eShop so we can enjoy it on an actual Nintendo device. Why the heck haven't they done this yet?

Hm. ...maybe there could have been the reveal of the rumoured Final Fantasy 9 remake? the presentation was already pretty Square-heavy with the two new HD-2D games plus FF Tactics

in the feedback survey I mentioned:

• I want a hotkey for switching between Sprint and Warp. D-pad left is unused, could easily go there. Having to pause to swap is extremely bothersome
• In the Weapon Shortcut menu, I don't like how I have to press A and then Y to equip a weapon to the Y button, or A and then X to equip a weapon to the X button. I just want to hover over the weapon and press Y or X directly.
• I also don't like how the Weapon Shortcut menu looks completely visually different from the regular inventory weapon menu. Making the player have to familiarise themselves with two completely different menus for the sake of one gameplay mechanic is just unnecessarily convoluted.
• I don't like how ZL opens the map, but does not close the map. I also don't like how the background moves so quickly in the menus and when closing the map, it makes my eyes tired.
• There should be an option to turn off Faie's voice quips. Also Faie keeps saying how she loves the cats, so I said that there should be an option to allow Faie to pet the cats.
• Sprint should break pots and bushes and barrels. Faie should be able to break them too.
• It is unclear how to avoid the boss's tidal wave attack.
• "Request Resurrection" during the boss completely removes the purpose of the challenge. I requested that the resurrections should get more expensive the more you need to use during a boss, and also there should be a prize for defeating the boss without using any resurrections
• The save points that restore your health upon brushing over them would be better if they also restored Faie's cooldowns too - so you can strategically sprint nonstop if you know where you're going. make traversal more fun.
• Let us turn off the tutorial pop-ups please

I dunno if anyone else felt this way but the weirdest announcement of the Direct for me was a Switch 2 upgrade for Romancing SaGa 2 Revenge of the Seven. Like.... huh? Square Enix is doing upgrades after all, then? ...Just not for Octopath for whatever reason? And why this one in particular? It ran pretty well on Switch, the only issue I really saw was with the loading times, which is something Switch 2 automatically fixes anyway. They're not adding mouse mode, they're not adding a DLC area like Kirby, they're not adding app integration like Zelda. ... why is this a paid upgrade??? Why isn't it just a compatibility patch like Pokémon got?

If a game only gets framerate and performance boosts, I feel like it should just be a patch like Pokémon got, not a paid upgrade. I really wish Nintendo set more rigid guidelines to their third parties regarding this. Because it is such a mess, with each game seemingly following its own rules.
Some games like Suikoden I&II have completely useless Switch 2 versions, some games like Sonic X Shadow have only mild performance boosts but expect you to buy it all over again. Some games like Puyo Tetris 2S add silly mouse mode shenanigans, but its mere existence further splinters the online player pool further, because they didn't care to make it compatible with the original version... And now we have a paid upgrade, similar to the ones Nintendo offers for their games, except this one literally doesn't add anything to the game except for a bit better performance. for a game that doesn't perform badly in the first place....does anyone else find this was a really weird announcement??

Also I played Revenge of the Seven extensively earlier this year and have absolutely no desire to go back to it at all. It's got good gameplay but I don't enjoy the way they implemented the time skip feature, it's completely immersion-breaking.

Lol. Getting the Switch 1 version then obviously.

Katamari is my beloved. I hope they've learned their lesson since the travesty that was Touch My Katamari on PS Vita so many years ago. I'm hopeful this will finally be a proper new entry, but I will stay cautious.

legitimately one of the best-designed games ever made. very happy to finally see it on Switch.

it's so cool that they finished the GBA ROM after all this time and then released it on actual GBA with stuff like link cable functionality included. It's certainly a shame they couldn't release it when the GBA was current, but it's great to see that it's no longer lost to time, and I really do enjoy how they released it in its fully-realised form.

This game was interesting for one playthrough but it did not enamour me enough to want to play it again. I also think videogamedunkey way overhyped this one too, which makes looking up discussions on this game online really annoying.

Wow, talk about an essential feature arriving late. The SNES app launched in 2019, right?

Y'know Nintendo, if you want people to forgo emulators in favour of your paid service, you have to provide a service that's better than them. Adding the controller remapping menu 6 years later isn't exactly that.

If this is the uncompromised original PvZ, then that would be amazing for Switch. Legitimately one of the best games ever made.

Back in 2011ish I remember playing Plants vs Zombies on my brand new iPhone.... it was a time before mobile gaming had completely gone to pot, and playing actual good games on a phone was a new thing. ...wow.

Nowadays I think the amazing mobile version was replaced with a microtransaction-laden one. ... ...Mobile gaming is legitimately the worst possible kind of gaming, isn't it.

reset the "days since game has been compared to dark souls" counter to zero

I can understand doing a stupid stunt like this if you just wanted to waste money and "have fun", but to then be genuinely upset that you ruined your game and console is just ridiculous.

I didn't have trouble with Jackenstein, but I did watch some blind letsplays, and some people did die several times to him. I can see why it would be frustrating to keep losing to him because the fight takes a long time (or you could say it is TAKING TOO LONG ). So that's a good change.

Also happy to see the sword tunnel attack hitboxes adjusted, that was just unfair game design tbh. it's still a really hard fight, now it's just a bit less cruel.

I like how this website shows "Release Date: TBA" for some of these titles, as if we were all waiting with bated breath for the announcement of the international release date for these Virtual Boy games.