Edd-O

Fair play to Nintendo for still adding themes to Tetris 99 after nearly 7 years. I played it a tonne during Covid and still come back to it every few months to get the latest theme from these Maximus Cups.

I hope they support F-Zero 99 for this long (and give us a physical version like they did with Tetris 99).

@dartmonkey please can you add Super International Cricket to the database? Not saying it's a top 50 SNES game but it was pretty popular in the UK and Australia.

Looks like a cool little device and a bargain at £45. As others have said though that artwork is puke inducing.

If Capcom could come up with something similar and add some SF6/Final Fight artwork and a capture button then I'd be all in. It would be perfect for SF6 and Capcom Arcade Stadium.

Sad to see Super Mario Kart sliding down to number 38, but good to see F-Zero climbing to 28.

Also the holy trinity of Super Mario World, A Link to the Past and Super Metroid still being 1, 2 and 3 is correct.

Can't help but feel that, like the Switch, the SNES's library is so strong that it's worthy of a Top 100.

Great review from Tom as ever. I played R-Type (PC Engine version) a lot on the Wii Virtual Console and have dabbled a bit with Super R-Type on Switch online. Looking forward to getting a physical copy of Delta from Limited Run some time next year.

Also love the fact that there is a battle cruiser in Delta called the ‘Croque Monsieur’.

Pretty sure it was just called ‘Digitiser’. I remember Mr. Biffo and The Man With a Long Chin.

Very random that R-Type Delta’s developers named one of the battle cruisers after a toasted ham and cheese sarnie 😋

Now we just need EA to follow and release EA Sports PGA Tour on the Switch 2 as well. It's ironic that Tiger Woods is now promoting PGA Tour 2K25 for 2K games when their rival EA had him as the face of their golf games for 14 years.

Loved Tiger Woods 2005 on the PS2 and Tiger Woods 2010 on the Wii with the motion plus add on was phenomenal. Here's hoping they have good motion control options for this one.

Wow 78 comments and 22 of them have been removed, this must be some kind of record?!

Nice review and great to hear that it runs so well on Switch 2, looking forward to picking this up and finally getting into the series.

Looked forward to playing 0, Kiwami 1, Kiwami 2 and Kiwami 3 on the Switch 2 when I finally get one at Chrimbo.

@krogp I've used them on my original 1992 SNES with the 8BitDo Retro Receiver and they work perfectly once you've synced them, which isn't too difficult.

@joey302 They’re bringing back Prize Fighter which was part of ‘LRG3’ as well, but only for PS4 & PS5 for the moment.

Was hoping for any of Blade Chimera, Goemon/Legend of the Mystical Ninja Collection, Parodius Collection, Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection, Actraiser Renaissance, DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou,
DoDonPachi Blissful Death Re:Incarnation
and an update on Superhot after LRG announced it a few years back.

Was disappointed as only Xenotilt & Capcom Arcade Stadium interested me. However the collaboration with Capcom has me hopeful for Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection in the future and if LRG are bringing out collections of weird lesser known stuff like Cho Aniki then a Goemon Collection must surely be a possibility?!

I got an NES for Christmas in 1991, just before my 11th birthday, and coming from the Spectrum + 2 to be able to load a game instantly, and actually have them all work, was a revelation, even if the games were £40 rather than £2.

Played through Marios 1, 2 & 3 in the months that followed and then bought a SNES in May 1992 and ended up selling the NES for £20 to a lad down the road, shortly after Super Mario All Stars came out. Like Shiryu above I always regretted selling it and so I ended up buying a mint, boxed NES with the same 3 in 1 cartridge included (Super Mario Bros, Tetris and Nintendo World Cup) that my 1991 NES came with, around 10 years ago for about £400.

I completed SMB 1 again on Switch Online soon after the service started and have put quite a few hours into Gradius, but for me the graphics and sound of the NES are rather too basic these days, unlike the SNES which has aged much better. In the same way that Gamecube graphics are still passable today, unlike most N64 games.

Anyway here's to the old boy on his 40th birthday, cheers!

Looking great, I only watched Terminator 2 for the first time a couple of weeks ago so this tie in is perfect timing for me at least.

@topsekret Yes well said, also thanks for the heads up regards LRG3, have been waiting for the date of that since the Summer and had been assuming that they wouldn't do one this year till reading your post.

Another physical shmup to add to my massive Switch backlog.

Hoping LRG will come through with DoDonPachi Saidaioujou and DoDonPachi Blissful Death physical releases in English as well one day soon (and ESP Rade Psi while they're at it).

Great to have so many of the Yakuza titles coming to Switch 2, surely using the English dub with accompanying American accents is sacrilegious though?

Japanese voices with English subtitles for me.

Great review as ever from Tom. Have ordered a physical Switch copy from Limited Run and might double dip on a Mega Drive cartridge, when that is eventually released.

Haven’t played a Madden since Madden NFL 2005 when by many accounts the series peaked, before EA bought the exclusive rights soon afterwards, killed NFL 2K, and then Madden spent 20 years getting progressively worse so that for the last few iterations Madden has been averaging Metacritic scores in the 60s (compared to 90s back in the PS2 glory days).

Anyway glad to see this promising start on Switch 2, don’t think I’ll be convinced enough to buy it until a few other outlets chime in with similarly good review scores.

It’s been wayyyyy too long since I played a good NFL game (started with Madden 64 in 1997 which taught me all the rules of the sport; I must have played that game for about 500 hours even though I’d guess it ran at 15-20 fps most of the time).

Great review from Tom as usual. Have ordered this from LRG so looking forward to getting the physical version in February next year (crosses fingers and toes, puts rabbit’s foot and four leaf clover in pocket).

As others have said this collection being titled ‘Gradius ORIGINS’ hopefully means that we’ll get another Gradius collection down the line with the later games and the console versions of these earlier titles (for what it’s worth I love the SNES version of Gradius III, slowdown and all, in particular it’s astounding soundtrack).

'F-Zero
Gradius III
Pilotwings
SimCity
Super Mario World
Having Super Mario World, Pilotwings and F-Zero right from the jump is an impressive play, but there's nothing much else to chew on. The European version also added Super Tennis, but that's no all-timer.'

Commenting 2 weeks too late but the SNES's launch lineup was stellar. Three all time Nintendo classics, a brilliant version of Sim City and in some ways an improved version of Gradius III (as in the SNES version you could actually make it past Level 2 unlike the ridiculously difficult arcade original, sadly it never made it to Europe until the Wii Virtual Console release).

I won't have shade thrown at Super Tennis either, it's still one of the best tennis games ever made and I had great fun replaying the career mode when the SNES app for Switch Online first launched back in 2019.

@SwitchplayerJohn No chance, Nintendo will still have a physical slot for Switch 3 cartridges, I'll bet you (come back to this comment circa 2033).

Some absolute bangers in the original F-Zero soundtrack, as I've been constantly reminded while playing F-Zero 99 over the past 18 months.

I'll go:

1. Big Blue
2. Sand Ocean (very underrated)
3. Port Town
4. Mute City
5. Death Wind

Might actually use Nintendo Music for the first time now.

Pre-ordered this from LRG, looking forward to receiving it in the Summer.

7/10 for me, some nice surprises, the best of which for me was Gradius Origins. Hoping they add Gradius Gaiden and the SNES version of Gradius III (and console versions of the other Gradiuses) to the collection before it releases in August.

@Henchdog Good to know thanks.

These look pretty cool and I would have been interested in one when my existing Rock Band 3 Mad Catz Wii Guitar inevitably wears out (currently on my 3rd guitar after the first two's strum bars broke after around 50 hours of play with each).

A shame that they've half arsed the multi-platform version's 'legacy mode' by making it compatible with the PS3 but not the Wii, d'oh!

I've been waiting on the standard switch edition of Ray'z Arcade Chronology for 2 years now. First Press Games make SLG look brilliant though; no communication from them at all regards Chained Echoes or Crimzon Clover World Explosion which I ordered from them 2 years ago too, and they've turned off replies on all of their tweets. Dodgy b*stards.

F-Zero 99 is a great game and glad to see it's still getting updates. As a long-time F-Zero fan I haven't played anything else on Switch much since it came out (110 hours so far).

Please give us an offline, single player mode and a physical version (a la Tetris 99) now Nintendo!

Madden on Switch 2 would be great if the game hadn't been terrible for at least 5 years. It was brilliant on PS2 back when it had competition from NFL 2K.

After 20 years it's about time the NFL took away Madden's exclusive NFL license!!!

Great to hear it's turned out so well, have had my eye on it since the first unveiling, looks like a very cool take on Symphony of the Night. Another impressive outing from Team Ladybug!

Banging soundtrack, I recognised it from Happy Console Gamer's Youtube channel, he used to use it as backing music for quite a few of his videos.

Physical all the way for me, unless a game is only available digitally (such as 5 of the Sega Ages games I've bought on Switch).

@Quarth Great list, I'd add Gunvein and Raiden IV x Mikado Remix, have had a lot of fun with those two.

This was another typically excellent Shmup review from Tom Massey so thanks for the review Tom.

Hope that LRG, Clear River Games or someone similar will bring physical versions of SaiDaiOuJou and DaiOuJou to the west next year.

Good list, I've spent many hours on NES Tetris, GB Tetris, Tetris Party, Puyo Puyo Puyo Tetris and Tetris 99.

Looking forward to finally giving Tetris Effect: Connected a go in 2025.

Great game and Nintendo have been excellent with all of the updates. Over 105 hours for me since it came out.

Now where's the physical version and offline mode (a la Tetris 99) please Nintendo?

Also fingers massively crossed for a new F-Zero game on Switch 2.

Wow Nintendo remembered that the Wave Race franchise exists. How about a new entry in the series, it's only been 23 years .

As others have hinted at, it's about 2 years since I pre-ordered Chained Echoes from First Press Games and there's still no sign of it showing up (similar to my order with them of Crimzon Clover World EXplosion, which will be 3 years on 22nd December).

What a disgraceful scam of a company they are, worthy of an investigation from Nintendo Life I think!

@jake1421 Thanks, I'll end up getting the Japanese version (and the same for ESP Ra.De and DDP SDOJ) if they don't get a western release before Switch 2 comes out.

Still waiting for Limited Run Games (or anyone else) to bring a physical release of DDP DOJ to the west, would be great if they could tie it in with a western release of DDP SDOJ.

@Olliemar28 That's more like it

Oh God since when did we in the UK call December 'the Holiday season'.

Next thing we'll be saying 'Happy Holidays' like the yanks... (shudders).

Looks pretty cool, hope we get a physical Switch release.

Definitely up for a Shenmue collection on Switch having never played any of the series but having heard so many people wax lyrical about the first two games.

How can someone be bored by something that lasts for 34 seconds? Does the writer have severe ADHD or what?!

@AStupidID There is but it's only available from Limited Run Games (so far). Should be a few copies popping up on eBay before long.

@N00BiSH Well a song should have words if you ask me.

Would someone say for instance that they loved Beethoven's songs?!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, these are 'tracks' not 'songs', pretty sure that barely any of them have any words in them so how are you meant to sing along?

Good news anyway.

Another peed off FPG customer here, who ordered Chained Echoes two years ago and Crimson Clover World Explosion even longer ago than that, I think.

No sign still of either yet, I wonder what hope we all have of ever getting our money back?