Emperor-Palpsy

As long as I can carry over my eShop purchases to the Switch successor and not have to pay an 'upgrade fee', I'm a happy bunny.

It was on sale too which helped. I bought it when it was reduced to £25 on the eShop and feel it was the perfect price.

Considering that I was about 1 of 26 people in the UK to own a Wii U, I think this just goes to show how you can never write off Nintendo. Their brand and legacy is priceless! Half the market with the Switch?? That’s incredible.

Call me lazy, but I’m past messing around with carts/discs. And with Switch being such a portable device, I couldn’t imagine not just having my library installed on the device itself.

For me the lure of carts is purely nostalgia driven, because there was no alternative back in the day. I grew up with the Sinclair Spectrum (cassettes), NES and owned subsequent consoles; my memories are rooted to those large slabs of plastic and card boxes.

But today? I’m in my Thirties and just want to get straight into/out of a session when I get a chance. It possibly boils down to ones lifestyle.

The only physical Switch game I kept was BoTW, for the simple reason it was my first Switch game and was a landmark moment for me - so the emotion is tied to the product.

And as far as pricing goes, if the eShop variant is more expensive, wait for the inevitable sale or just buy the Game Vouchers (£42 per game, plus £4 back on eShop credit).

My God if this thing was on Switch, the cart' would never come back out

Can’t say I ever understood glover. I just remember having an argument with friends over whether ‘it’ was Master Hand in Smash 64 baha!

So is this in conjunction with the EU’s Black Friday sale?

Not surprised at the high price, what with Tom Nook selling it

UK got the blue box version.

Yep... I Need.... in my life...

Who cares about Wario - what about Luigi's "OWW-Oww-Owwwww!" in Mario Party 1 😅

WIN* these medals!

*medal measures 10mm circumference

I usually buy physical if I'm unsure about a game, and if I enjoy it, sell it and wait until the inevitable digital sale.

Crazy, crazy numbers...
I remember just being happy when it beat the Wii U, but I didn't expect it to be such a juggernaut.

It's funny you write this article as, at the moment, I'm isolating with the corona virus.

I was laying in bed this morning, off work for the first time in years, when I had a flashback to my school days. It would be around this time of year when I would begin to either feign (or 'slightly' exaggerate) a cold, which presented me a rare opportunity following a day off school... an all-day-SNES-in-bed.

This was before the N64, and so my go to - my 'comfort food' as you call it - was a title that actually just recently released on Switch Online - Super Mario All Stars.

As a NES owner, the jump to 16-bit was huge. I didn't own an Amiga like many friends, so as my first SNES game, All Stars was a revelation. I have fond memories of looking at all these recreated sprites and artwork, and the new sampled soundtrack that was so addictive. It looked and sounded so immersive, you couldn't help but be sucked into SMB3's worlds.

I never got round to completing SMB2. Unlike today, you were pretty much left to your own devices, magazines and school friends to figure things out (That applied to life in general...), so it was always too difficult for me.

And so here I am in my thirties, a fully grown adult, reliving a favourite childhood pastime in my hands, battling a virus that feels like the flu on steroids. I may not be feigning it this time, but the feeling of escapism still remains.

Oh - and I'm proud to say I've reached World 4 in SMB2 - finally!

Unsurprising. They're charging full price for a game with virtually no upgrades (besides the original slim DLC), for a franchise that wasn't mainstream to begin with.

They should have just included all three games and called it a day.

#JusticeForSakura

And y’all were saying this would be a slow year for Nintendo 😅 All they needed was Animal Crossing!

I guess “winner” got lost in translation with “wiener”

@scully1888 This is likely because, with the PS/XB/PC versions of the game essentially 'one', EA can't justify reprogramming the legacy version of the game to feature those new elements you talk of.

After all, this isn't a simple case of drag-and-drop - all these elements tie into various aspects of the software that isn't present on the Switch version.

I do understand the pain though. I've played FIFA since the mid-Nineties and would love to get back into it.

I do at the very least understand a couple of points; that the 'full' (current) version of FIFA would require significant optimisation to fit onto a 16GB game card, let alone a 32GB version; and Frostbite likely is very taxing on the CPU.

This may not be the easiest franchise in the world to port over, and from a technical standpoint I actually don't expect to see the latest bells and whistles, but what I do disagree with is the pricing. If they're going to give us a product that is essentially last-gen in nature, the pricing should reflect this. £30 tops.

Lazy port. I don’t see why anyone would be in a rush to spend £50 on this.

No reason to buy this at full RRP - just wait for the inevitable 30% off...

Poor reporting, NL.

Nintendo didn’t go on record as saying “it isn’t a real problem”; the law firm fighting the case paraphrased the attitude that Nintendo is taking, and you’ve turned it into a quote.

Yes I don’t agree on Nintendo’s stance either, but this is an example of click bait.

What’s the release date for this game on Switch?

I can't see them moving to another system after Switch. The successor must surely be a Switch 2, which will be backwards compatible with existing software.

You know ever since I set eyes on this game, all I could think of was the trailer set to Flash Gordon.

”Crabs!.... Arrr-uhhh!....”

@Realness On a purely technical level it wouldn't be impossible - but it would, however, be very difficult to do and not strictly necessary.

The earliest first-party N64 games were written in assembly code, which in simple terms means that the studio (Nintendo, and sometimes Rare) 'wrote' the game on its purest and most optimised format possible, which was to instruct the hardware itself how it should behave. This is almost the opposite method of programming a game through typical developer tools, which is more akin to using LEGO bricks to construct a model.

Why is this relevant? Because SM64 on 3D All Stars is emulated. This means that Nintendo, like it's NES and SNES, has developed a virtual N64 console runtime that executed SM64 on the Switch.

The fact that they chose this route tells you a lot about the difficulty of programming the N64, and why it would be more of a pain to alter the game's native resolution, when the hardware itself was designed for the aspect ratio you're seeing. Put simply again, Nintendo thought it easer to simply multiple the number of pixels until it reached 720p.

But there are other factors to consider, too.

• SM64's world maps were designed for the intended aspect ratio. If you widened the field of view, non-playable areas of the game would enter the view in certain points of the software.
• The aspect ratio is the way people remember this game. Yes, Sunshine was also in a 4:3 ratio originally, but on a purely technical level the game's design is more forgiving.
  And even so, it's evident that Sunshine has compromises to reach 16:9.
  If you look at the HUD, you may notice that elements such as the coin counter, Water level etc are 'squashed' horizontally. This is because in order to gain a 16:9 ratio, Nintendo actually cropped the original 4:3 image (by zooming in), changed the field of view back to its original value, and then had to move the HUD in from the sides in order to fit the screen.

Bottom line: without going to the lengths of a full remake, altering code for a 'remaster' is not without its pains.

I sold mine recently for £55. They cost £80 when they came out and shops couldn't give them away.

The only practical reason one would wish to own one is for a collection, as they were horrendous to play for any extended time - not the least to play 'seriously'.

My guess is that Nintendo designed it as more of an impulse product, something that you might want to take out of your pocket on the tube/bus for 20-minutes. For that it actually serves a purpose, but for putting in long sessions for your favourite games, the SP was. the way to go.

Yes, Nvidia is the main beneficiary, but also keep in mind that to recoup that $40bn investment they will need ARM to continue running their business for a very long time.

So I wouldn’t expect to see the ‘benefits’ for other businesses for some time.

Hmm, I expected a bit more to be honest.

Taking into account the RRP of £50, the product really should be doing more to celebrate these games. How about a little booklet with production artwork? A poster? Even just a laminated slipcase? Anything to give the physical customer more value for money and to make this release more exclusive.

As for the software itself, I understand that they haven't updated the games (beyond minimal QoL improvements) as they're being represented in the way that people remember them. That's fine, but with all being said, it doesn't justify the price tag. On Virtual Console N64 games were £9, and GC/Wii games were £15. That's more like £40 in my estimation, and that's still pushing it.

Keep in mind that the profit margin on this title will be extraordinarily high (for obvious reasons), so I fail to understand why they didn't do more to make this a special release on the Nintendo shop. Heck, imagine if they made a Switch bundle with this title included? It would sell-out like crazy.

In response to the SM64 being in 4:3 criticism; no, it really shouldn't be in 16:9. The game was designed for a 4:3 aspect ratio, meaning the only two choices would be to alter the dimensions of the image (which would require the game to receive considerable re-writing, since the N64 assembly/hardware was designed for that pixel aspect ratio), or to broaden the field of vision and letterbox the image (which would make non-playable areas of the game visible). It's just common sense.

I may be in the minority, but All Stars will always be the definitive version of these games.

It was the first SNES game I purchased back in the day (I first played the Master System and NES), and it left a massive impact on me.

I remember thinking how much better the graphics looks compared to Super Mario World, which seemingly didn’t take full advantage of the SNES hardware like All Stars does. Each game has its own distinct character that just pops right off the screen.

The soundtrack and SFX are also a massive step-up and worth the price of admission alone in my opinion - the sampling is beautiful.

Honestly, it’s hard to go back after!

I’m actually happy about this showcase, as it just leaves more room for a first-party Direct.

There were some surprises here for me though, especially Puyo Tetris 2.

I remember them saying at an investors meeting last year that the Ages line wasn’t selling well. I just wish they had bundled them all into one compilation.

Please pack in Wii Sports this time lol

I miss-read 'astronomical' for 'anatomical', and expected another 'Luigi's lunchbox' article.

I am disappointed.

Interesting that they put Luigi’s Mansion on here, given that the multiplayer feature is DLC. Still, I’m not complaining haha

A coffee cup?

I expected no less than a highly realistic interpretation of a fruit; often called a fruit.

It's no Endless Ocean... but a step in the right direction.

Was a bit disappointed with the graphics to be honest.

Meh. I'd rather have Windwaker HD to be honest.

In case anyone was curious - no he wasn't hiding the nips under is 'tache!

Simple answer to all this - don’t make games ‘free-to-play’, then entice users into spending huge sums of money over its lifespan.

The likes of Epic Games knew the App Store guidelines from the moment they signed up to become an Apple authorised developer, so if they were genuinely looking out for consumers then they wouldn’t even have Fortnite available in the first place.

I don’t recall a big fuss when the App Store was tiny, and was still taking 30% from literally ‘hundreds’, not millions, of downloads. Epic are just throwing their toys out of the pram because they know they don’t have a sustainable business model.

Instead, all they care about is getting users - particularly those who are under age - to download software like this at no cost and then continually spend money on intangible ‘features’. They want an extra 30%? Do the right thing and make the software paid-for. Otherwise, there are plenty of other platforms to draw people into.

To those saying they’re disappointed that MK8 hasn’t been updated: Nintendo doesn’t need to touch it.

It’s the best-selling game on Switch. Any concepts they have are all going to be put into a future release, not wasted on a game that is as old as this.

Haven't laughed this hard in a long time. Track should be titled 'Death of the Wild'

Give us Rare Replay, then I’ll celebrate

With all the time they've had, they could have at least done something with the visuals.

If Nintendo ever releases a transparent version (a la the old Game Boy models), I don't think my heart could take it....

Give us Waluigi for Smash. Then I'll wish you Happy Birthday.

Hears Do a barell roll uncompressed

That prototype of Blargg reminds me of a toy from when I was a child, it was a pole with an animal head on one end and a trigger on the other, which made the mouth open and close!