FishyS

I'm definitely getting Ender Magnolia eventually because the first game was great, but my game queue is pretty full right now so I'll probably wait for a sale.

1. The total views on YouTube, Twitter NA and Twitter JP are nearing 100 million... for a shadow drop.

2. Even many people who fastidiously avoided all leaks didn't think the trailer was particularly exciting (though it was well made)

3. Who cares about any of that, we just want to buy a Switch 2.

@VoidofLight Until it got delayed by that extra 10,000 pages of paperwork to investigate the leaks 😆

It would be super useful to add search by genre- — at least the basic ones Nintendo uses like platformer, but even more useful if it could add visual novel, metroidvania, etc.

Also, romance is an interesting category to filter out. I imagine some people would actually like to search specifically for romance; seems like a good genre option.

@SGE2000 Fun new level! Very interesting speed strats with the choices to get the single coins along the way or detour for a 10 coin. Would make a good level for those speed competitions which used to happen.

@Not_Soos I played your level too after seeing it posted above. Cute little level, I enjoyed the music.

Good list although I feel like something should have represented NSO since that has been such a big part of this generation.

I don't think both Hollow Knight and Hades needed to be on the list — they both really just represent Nintendo being an indie machine.

My personal tweak:

• Breathe of the Wild - representing Switch's kickoff.
• Animal Crossing - representing Switch's fame and unexpected level of success.
• Mario Kart - representing the long-lasting nature and ever-green games of this console as well as the continued emphasis on Nintendo's main mascot.
• fortnite - representing the increasing 'mainstream' nature of Switch and the large amount of third party games as well as an increase in online game play. (I would have preferred Minecraft here but Fortnite does touch more categories).
• The Witcher - representing the struggle (and sometimes success) to put AAA games on Switch and how Switch can act above its station even outside of first party.
• Insert super famous indie game (Hollow Knight or Hades or otherwise) - representing Switch as an absolute indie machine.
• Pokemon Violet - representing the increasing performance struggles of Switch but also the changes and impressive vision in games as well as the controversy which some games brought.
• Tetris 99 or Mario 35 - representing the importance of the new subscription service as well as the creativity and weirdness that Nintendo continues to have.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I have been playing:

• Psycho Dream (NSO)- cute little action snes game where you work through various levels and bosses starting with basic weapons like whips and getting fairly over-powered shmup-like weapons by the end. I played fully through the game twice, once with each character.
• Valis III (Mega Drive) - After Psycho Dream I was in the mood for more side scrolling retro action. I've always been curious about the VALIS series so I finally snagged one on a cheap sale. Seems silly but fun.
• A Year Of Springs - Really sweet and endearing visual novel.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 145/270 main puzzles completed.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - first time I've played in quite a while. Just doing a little endless normal because I am very rusty. I hope mario maker 3 comes early in Switch 2's lifespan.

Although I like Donkey Kong I don't feel the need for this port. If it was $20 I might grab it, but definitely not $60.

@Smithicus I mean, can you play computer or PlayStation games 'docked' (e.g. on a large screen with separated controller)? I (like most Switch owners) do some docked and some handheld though I am personally biased towards docked.

When I take my Switch out it is always in a backpack because it's already too large to carry easily otherwise. But will the 14% larger make Switch 2 too large to hold comfortably? I'm hoping it won't make much difference, though I do wonder for very young kids.

Pretty excited about Hello Kitty Island Adventure and Ender Magnolia.

I use the straps during exercise games such as fitness circuit. Which is the main time I use detached joycons at all.

I hope everyone had a great New Year. This week I am playing:

• Cat and Ghostly Road - A pretty and sweet story of a cat traveling through the spirit world to save its master. Basically a point and click adventure game. It was only a couple hours long so I've already finished, but I enjoyed it.
• Tetris Forever - I finished playing all the different games. Welltris (the sort of 3D one) hurt my brain. Overall very fun and interesting collection.
• Arcade Archives TETRIS THE ABSOLUTE THE GRAND MASTER 2 PLUS - Who named this game? This one wasn't in the Forever collection but I decided to play it also while I was in a Tetris mood. The levels where you don't even have time to fully turn your pieces before they are on the ground are crazy.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 135/270 main puzzles completed. The levels are getting a little harder on average.
• Super Neptunia RPG - I got this on an extreme sale because I had never played the series and was mildly curious. I've only played the first few minutes but so far it is very silly.

Happy gaming everyone.

And happy birthday @JohnnyMind

Looking forward to it; gunvolt, umbraclaw, and gal guardians are all fun games.

Pretty packed January but February is looking a bit empty; I wonder if Nintendo will drop a game without much warning.

@sketchturner Silksong definitely maybe out by 2027.

Chrono Trigger and Yoshi's Island 30th — let's have remakes of both! 😀

I would love Mario Maker 3 but it seems unlikely given the new console and presumably 3D Mario and possible Mario Kart will take up the 2025 Mario hype.

That's a lot of games! Ender Magnolia and Fantasy Life i are must-buys for me. And probably Shantae and Pokemon Legends. For Civ 7 I will wait for the inevitable Switch 2 version.

Happy New Year! Thank you for the fun articles and community here over the last year Nintendo Life.

Sad to see Echoes of Wisdom falling to the bottom already.

I enjoyed the demo of Antonblast and will definitely buy the full game eventually. Nothing else really caught my eye this month. Happy New Year all.

@Matt_Barber probably both? 😝 I'm in the same boat. A few of those I only knew because I read a lot of Nintendo Life article.

I wasn't expecting Suika game to be number 1, but fun game I have put far too many hours into 😆

Barely got 14/14 — I think I got the alarmo one correct purely at chance because I pressed one which looked kinda right before reading the other options even though I totally didn't know the precise name. 😆 I happened to know the Jamboree question because of reading about it recently, but I felt like the other questions were pretty straightforward.

Give us the recent games on Switch 2 and I will happily fill out more questionnaires 😆

The 'publisher with total rubbish' category was sadly very competitive this year.

I'm glad Zelda won something in this article. It deserves more awards, even if silly ones.

This last week of the year is always a brief reprieve from the tidal waves of games. 😆 Last year there were 8 during this week. Nintendo also stops their (very slightly curated) 'new games this week' articles at the end of the year.

I'm glad someone mentioned the fact that when you buy games on the wishlist they don't delete themselves from the wishlist... that has always driven me batty 😆 Given the insanely slow/laggy scrolling of the wishlist it can be actively hard to remove games you've already bought. Granted, fixing the lag should be the number 1 goal. And also let us sort our wishlists...

As for the Eshop, I kinda agree with burn it down. I do want most of the games still there, but many others should be removed or at least should be stuck at the bottom of all lists. It would be nice if there was some type of quality rating ranking actual publishers.

There have been a lot of great games this year, but if I restrict to ones NintendoLife didn't review, bzzzt was a really good one. For most under-rated, I would say Peach Showtime.

I played the demo of Unicorn Overload but couldn't get into it.

Zelda was easily the top for me, but Peach Showtime (somehow not on this list?? Very under-rated) was my number 1 for most of the year until Zelda came out.

Of games on this list, I also really enjoyed Jamboree and Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble.

I'll be traveling and doing family stuff so I'll probably miss this article next week. I hope everyone celebrating holidays has a great time. And Happy weekend to everyone as well. ✨

This week I have played:

• Tetris 99 - I really like the new Zelda EoW theme; very cute.
• Okami - I've never played the game before and couldn't resist the $5 sale. I played the first little bit and it's gorgeous.
• Civilization 6 - All the talk of civilization 7 lately got me going back to 6 to play a round.
• Infinity Nikki - Still enjoying, although the lag has been a bit painful; I clearly don't have a powerful enough device to run the game well. I just got the violin outfit which has convinced me I would be terrible at the violin.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 115/270 main puzzles completed. I'm somehow stuck on a puzzle; I can't tell if I'm blind or if I have to look forward more moves than I am used to 😆

Happy gaming all.

@caseyyy I hope you enjoy Tetris forever. Watching the history segments and then playing the corresponding games has been interesting. Hatris is suuuuper weird though kinda fun.

oh, yay, I was wondering why Welltris wasn't included. I'm interested to try it out.

I don't know why they are pretending the art isn't AI-generated. If you zoom in on the humans in the original trailer some of them have horribly deformed hands —one has weird holes in their hand and another one looks like they have a piece of wood randomly embedded in their hand. That points both to AI and poor quality-control on the AI output, which doesn't give me confidence in the game.

That is... certainly a list of games. Backlog for me this week which is good because it is overflowing.

My Top game was a Picross game and my number 2 was a fitness game 😆 Some types of games just naturally suck up zillions of hours. My most played 'normal' game was Zelda EoW at 48 hours.

@Morsel I did play 162 games which is a lot! But yeah, I like bite-sized play sessions for most games so I may play Picross for 10 minutes or play just a couple levels of a platformer. It means my total played games to played hours ratio is kinda weird. Plus I play lots of dirt cheap eshop games which only take like 2 hours to beat 😆

My top 3 were:

1. Picross - LogiartGrimoire-
2. Fitness Circuit
3. Zelda Echoes of Wisdom

Overall I played 583 hours and 162 seperate games. My personal GotY is Zelda EoW.

Tetris Forever is interesting and it's hard not be fond of the OG Gameboy Tetris, but Tetris Effect definitely wins for me. Tetris 99 is a close second.

oooh. I forgot we hadn't had this theme yet. Count me in.

I hope everyone has had a great week. Holidays coming up soon! This week I have played:

• Infinity Nikki - My main game is still a non-Switch game which is unusual for me. The graphics can be massively ramped up and down (which actually adds more flowers and other details) but sadly would still be difficult on our Switch potatoes. This game made the IGN GotY contender and deserves it. If it wasn't for the gacha (which is optional but still annoying) it would be an easy 9/10 game or higher. I'm mostly exploring so far and doing occasional shrines and dungeons. Some of the mini games are quite cute. I don't have a ton of outfits yet, but I have a few lovely ones. I hooked up my phone to my tv and a controller which is silly but works surprisingly well for the game.
• Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble - Dipping into the third world but also trying some of the speed-run challenges.
• BZZZT - The difficulty of this game ramped up massively at least for 100%-ing levels so my progress is slow. Still very fun. 27 levels finished.
• Tetris Forever - Finishing up the documentary part this weekend; lots of actual games to still play. Semi addicted to Hatris even though it is ridiculous.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 109/270 main puzzles completed. I really like how the puzzles mostly stay the same sizes but manages to increase and decrease difficulty by the exact artwork and symmetry; it's a well-done take.

Happy gaming everyone!

p.s. I forgot you can't vote for non-Switch games; I was trying and failing. 😆

@Jack_Goetz I'm thinking of grabbing Okami also; that $5 sale is hard to resist.

I'm glad it won. Even if it also 'stole' the action/adventure and family category from Nintendo 😆 Nice to have a family friendly platformer win.

NAIAD looks super pretty.

Of those 10 nominations, Zelda is the only one I have played. That said, Zelda is easily my personal GotY.

@Zaruboggan Agree on all points. Well-timed echo spamming, crazy dodging, and napping in the middle of boss fights makes combat fun and hilarious.

Wait, 10 million yen damages total?? So like 70,000 dollars. That has to be far less than both companies spent on lawyers.

@Lightsiyd I was tempted by Brothership but after reading all the somewhat negative reviews and discussion about it I decided to get Jamboree instead. I was curious about your comment on Voidwrought.. I enjoyed the demo but was waiting for a sale to buy the full game; is the demo super misleading about the gameplay?

• Echoes of Wisdom: 10/10; personal game of the year.
• Peach Showtime: 9/10; some small flaws but I loved every second of it.
• Mario Party Jamboree: 8/10; just a fun Mario Party game.
• Pennys Big Breakaway: 8/10; fun crazy platforming.

I buy most games on sale months (or years) after release so I need to remember which other games I played actually came out in 2024 😅 Probably some more 8/10s, but I think I only had the two games in the 9-10 range.

@NINTELDRITCH Great choices! 😀

@Lofoten Agreed, Echoes of Wisdom is under-rated.

I hope everyone has had a great week. This week I have played:

• Infinity Nikki - I don't normally mention mobile games here, but this may be one of my main games for a while. It's on PC and PS5 also, but I suspect the devs decided Switch was too wimpy (please come soon Switch 2). I have played the related 2D fashion RPG game Love Nikki for years. This new game is a 3D open world fashion RPG with platforming, puzzle dungeons, enemy camps with treasure chests, fishing, etc. Beautiful art and quite fun exploring so far. Kentaro Tominaga, one of the BotW directors, is in charge of Infinity Nikki and there is definitely some Zelda style which shines through. The advertising catch phrase for the game is "The Coziest Open-World Game". Because it's free to play and has some gacha mechanics I suspect the game will eventually lose some of it's shine, but for now I'm really enjoying the story and gameplay. I'm glad to see Alana Hagues above is playing it also so I'm not alone. 😅
• Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble - Finished the first 2 story mode worlds with all the banana goals and special bananas. Haven't gotten the time goals for some of the levels; they can get surprisingly hard. Overall, a very good Monkey Ball game so far.
• BZZZT - 22 levels finished but only 18 100% because getting all the collectables while also hitting the speedrun goal is getting harder. I won't say specifics to avoid spoilers, but there was a super hilarious hidden challenge level.
• Tetris Forever - Finished Chapter 4 of the video history and played the games up to the first Bombtris game which was quite interesting-- the bombs really mix things up.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 105/270 main puzzles completed.
• Leo's Fortune - I grabbed this for a couple dollars because I heard good things about it 10 years ago. Basically just a level-based platformer where you are a fuzzy blob that sort of rolls. The art is nice and the level design of the first couple levels has been good. Also, they explained the standard coin trails in a hilarious way: someone stole the main character's money but is accidentally spilling some of it as they run away.
• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - I played just a little this week, but since Infinity Nikki just came out and there are prizes you get if you play early, I will likely shelve TotK for a while. I will return, I just can't play multiple big open RPGs at once.

Happy gaming everyone.

@NinChocolate Clearly you didn't go through Idaho during one of the gravity storms when all the trees start floating 🦆

Clearly people should buy Fitness Boxing feat. HATSUNE MIKU instead for the tunes.

Anyone else think 5 fitness boxing games on Switch is overkill?

All but 5 of those 30 also had other game awards nominations. Poor Sonic didn't. Hopefully it will get some Player's Voice votes. That said, I am voting for Zelda Echoes of Wisdom for every round until it inevitably loses.

I've been playing lots of old Tetrises in Tetris Forever which has been interesting. I'll definitely play this too.

I am also very excited by the Tetris-themed Tetris 99 event. 😆