FishyS

Probably 8/10? I'm not done yet so it is possible that will change, but it's 8 at the moment. I am really enjoying the atmosphere of the game and even though the region is small, exploring and fighting in parks and platforming around roofs are all quite fun. And I love the clothing options after the S/V school uniforms.

I don't like the combat as much as in Arceus (in theory there is potential for lots of strategy but with the annoying timers counting down in practice I am much less strategic than I am in a normal Pokemon game) and the boss fights are not my favorite. The night time fight club thing is more fun than I thought it would be though.

I personally quite like the art style, not sure why people complain about it. And the soundtrack is catchy.

I could take or leave the megas.

Overall, quite enjoying the game although I am not in as love with it as I was Arceus (which I gave 9/10).

Given that the Switch 1 version sounds like it has some issues and not many people own a Switch 2 yet, lower sales were inevitable.

That said.... this is one of the last games which takes vouchers so I bought digital. We'll have to wait a few months for Nintendo to publish the true sales with physical plus digital.

Only 13/21. I think I got every one I wasn't 100% sure of wrong 😅 There were a few where the correct answer was my second guess and some I just didn't really know the game at all.

I explored the city so much in the first couple hours that I am drowning in money. Although I keep spending it on clothes 😆

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. This week I am playing:

• Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Having lots of fun so far. Enjoying the city exploration a lot more than I expected. I'm not a huge fan of the new combat system but it hasn't detracted too much from the rest of the game. And everything runs like a dream on Switch 2.
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - I have now found all but two of the collectables on the DLC map. I have zero clue where the missing ones are hiding 😆
• Picross LogiartGrimoire - Starting the 3rd DLC pack.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Just a few levels here and there.

good 'ol Chikorita here even though it has a goofy mega evolution

Ironically the loading times are so fast on Switch 2 that I never get a chance to read the helpful hints displayed during loading screens. 😆

@N00BiSH Imagine having to rotate the entire open world map to look at different angles

Captain Toad sequel please.

I'm not totally sold by what I've seen but I have a voucher from last year which is about to expire and Nintendo has had almost no voucher-able games this year sooo... I may have no choice 😆 I loved Arceus so I guess I'll just hope I like this game also.

Interesting list as always.

Adding Cato and Super Alloy Ranger to my wishlist and I'll try the demo of Anna Holinski saves the universe.

Cogen, Hyper Team, Toree Saturn, and Witch On The Holy Night were already on my wishlist but it's nice to see a mini review of them.

I'm glad Be Brave Barb was included - all the games by the Dadish dev are remarkably good and deserve more love.

Adding it to my wishlist. Although I have a long Atelier backlog.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. Same games for me this week as last week:

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - I finally got to the highest region on the DLC map and also made my final gem wands so I have done a lot of the DLC now although I still need to finish the plot arcs after leveling friendship more with the new character.
• Be Brave, Barb - Finished all 100 levels. A simple but very unique and satisfying puzzle platformer. About 4 hours total but it only cost $2 so a good deal.
• Donkey Kong Bananza - Not much this week other than grabbing a few bananas I missed here and there.
• Picross LogiartGrimoire - Back to working on the DLC puzzles.

Neat sounding. I'll add it to my wishlist.

I don't usually double dip with 2 versions of a game on one console, but I'm very tempted here.

@rallydefault @N00BiSH I'm not convinced half the people who complain about frame rate can even visually tell the difference between a really consistent 30 fps and a 60 fps.

And everyone is inevitably arguing about what 'new' means. I buy a lot of games but fairly rarely one that isn't on sale. But I would certainly still count them.

@KociolekDoSyta Some of us need an 'about once a week' category.

Far more than 12 but a lot of those are $3 games

It had pikmin related music, the type of objects which pikmin carry floating around and the pikmin series anniversary is this month soo... pikmin.

Pikmin 5 teaser?

I'll definitely get Hades 2 someday but so far I haven't played any of these.

My one eShop game of the month was Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Wheatflour Wonderland which has been great DLC for a great game.

@eaglebob345 It's Sega colored.

As someone who didn't buy either... I'm looking forward to Kirby Air Riders.

@Cipher36 For a large minority of people, Klonoa instantly crashes on Switch 2. This is for the digital version. It may also depend on region, not sure, but I believe the physical version works. I've spoken to Nintendo support a couple times and they have just shrugged and continued to sell it on the eShop marked as compatible although they partially refunded me and have refunded others I have spoken to.

They found the same number of problems as they fixed. At that rate they will never finish 😆

I'm still hoping they fix Klonoa eventually — that's the only major Switch 1 game I have which won't even load on Switch 2 although I have some smaller games with issues.

Unfortunately there isn't always much motivation for third parties to to do these type of patches if the game is somewhat old and they don't really expect to sell many more copies.

Edit: Interestingly, I just now tried to download a demo of a game that is not out yet and it wouldn't let me because they said it doesn't work on Switch 2. So apparently compatibility is still an issue with future games, which I guess makes sense for devs who don't have Switch 2 dev kits yet.

Bananza deserves to be nominated for overall GotY as well (I don't think it will win, but it deserves to be nominated).

@PikminMarioKirby It is an extremely good controller.

@Nintendomatt64 I mean... that category has a console, a controller, a hard drive, a camera, a laptop, and a CPU. Seems like it is any type of hardware which is being sold to use with gaming.

Cute article.

I've found a lot of games through these articles. Now that the eShop has gotten even worse in terms of the amount of junk, it's even harder to find the good games so I look forward to the article.

I may submit one myself; I'll have to look through my list.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. Not a ton of game time and nothing new this week, but I have been playing a bit of:

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - I discovered a whole part of the DLC map I somehow hadn't noticed so I am mainly exploring while leveling friendship of the new character.
• Donkey Kong Bananza - After a break I decided to go back and do some more of the post-game. I don't think I will go for 100% because a few things seem less fun, but I may go in and grab a few bananas or fossils when I feel like it.
• Be Brave, Barb - About 60 levels in. Such a goofy and simple but creative game.
• Picross LogiartGrimoire - Replaying some hard levels with no types of hints and no rewinding.

Doesn't look all that different to me, but I'll be getting Galaxy 2 regardless. I'm hoping Nintendo will eventually have every single mainline Super Mario game available on Switch.

@ShieldHero It's different because there are fair-use laws regarding copywrited materials. The AI tools are arguably blatantly breaking those rules as has already been decided in some court cases. In a way that a random fan artist doesn't. Since we're on a game site, let's pretend AI gets a little better and can make a full video game. AI tools making a general rpg with public domain types of character models? No problem (no legal problem anyways). AI training off of super mario rpg playthrough video and directly stealing/recreating most of the assets to make a game with a different plot but which looks like mario rpg? That's a problem. The fact that the end result is 'cool' doesn't relate much to the legality or moral implications (if you don't care about the moral implications of stealing from a large company, a better example might be stealing from an indie artist or game maker and both profiting from their work while simultaneously putting them out of a job).

It's not the concept of generative AI that is at fault, it is the almost completely unregulated way it is currently being used. If some lawsuits help sane laws and regulations be passed? All the better.

Finally, a non-controversial lawsuit. I hope the big companies getting annoyed leads to laws which also protect the independent artists.

@ShieldHero The tool trained on copywrited data which directly leads to them getting money. Normal art supplies weren't designed to magically create copywrited images more easily as a major selling point so it is a very different scenario.

I wish this game got some DLC and a Switch 2 edition, but I'll take the music; there are some very cute songs.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. Pretty busy week so only a smidge of gaming time, but I played some bits and pieces:

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Playing through the new DLC. The new map is lovely. Also trying to get yet more visitors to move in permanently. Finally finished the really long flower quest as well.
• Be Brave, Barb - Just played a couple levels this week, but it included a boss. Bosses in a game where you can do nothing but walk in a straight line and jump and can't touch enemies are pretty silly
• Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter (demo) - Played enough of the demo to decide to add the game to my wishlist. Very cute and fun looking.
• Earthbound (NSO) - My current NSO game. Just played the intro so far.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Just played a few random levels.

The magical talking monkeys either have a very short lifespan (so the ones we see in each game are actually different generations of characters with the same names) or very long lifespans because... why not, they are magical talking monkeys.

As to discoverability/vetting, I heartily agree with the problem. The NA eShop had 93 new entries this week. A few weeks ago it had 109. Sure, some of those are bundles and some are obvious scams but a lot of them are just games which ... probably aren't good but some of them likely are. I used to buy tons of cheap eShop games and it was pretty easy a couple years ago to pick out the ones which might be good (not necessarily excellent but lots of decent 6/10s and 7/10s and some jank but fun 5/10s). Now ... not so much. The garbage has become a tidalwave and has started looking too similar eShop-wise to the decent real indies.

It tends to be true that the truly excellent hidden gems are spotted by someone on the internet, but many of the short decent indies often have basically zero Internet presence and sorting them out from the garbage is becoming harder by the day.

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

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Playing the brand new DLC! The new region is super pretty. I am overwhelmed with new quests and playing far too much 😆 It's fun though.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Played a few levels by creators on my favorites list. I'm impressed people keep making levels for this game.
• Be Brave, Barb - In the mood for a puzzle game, so I've been playing a level or 2 daily of this cute gravity-shifting auto-walker.
• Crystal Project - Got this on sale because I really enjoyed the demo. Kind of hard to describe but it's a turn-based RPG adventure with a bizarre landscape you can platform all over in puzzly ways.

I'm excited; I just finished most of the content in the main game so this is timed perfectly for me.

@h3s @rjejr I mean... $15 dollars for a massive map expansion, new characters, new quest lines, and the addition of magic. Likely dozens of hours of content. For... cheaper than the tiny Donkey Kong Bananza DLC.

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

• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Even though I have been playing for ages I only finally maxed out friendship and got the not-quite-credits. So now I am doing a few quests post that while waiting for the DLC.
• Donkey Kong Bananza - I haven't heard great things about the DLC so may skip it, but I still have normal bananas to find, so onward.
• Desvelado - Kind of a level based platformer cosplaying as a metroidvania.You play as a vampire. Pretty basic but a little puzzly, and has a cute aesthetic.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - sadly we didn't get mario maker 3, but I'll console myself with a few smm2 levels.
• Tobari Dream Ocean - Silly little level based platformer with Kirby vibes because you take different abilities from enemies. It's not super great, but it's chill and kind of fun.

8/10 for me. I was happy about Yoshi and Galaxy 2 and Dragon Quest. And there were a lot of release dates I had been waiting for. Plus a couple other interesting and random things.

I'm looking forward to this one; I like this sub-series.

This is definitely a 'wait for reviews' moment. Looks kinda neat but also kinda weird.

I'm just happy they let us buy the games separately so we don't have to pay for Galaxy 1 again after getting all stars.

Kind of disappointed the DLC is so focused on multiplayer.

I'll just continue to hope for Mario Maker 3 with Wonder style eventually.

The first game is 88 GB! The whole trilogy won't fit 😆

Super Mario Maker 3 would be the dream. I wouldn't even care what else is in the direct.

I'm kinda impressed we're even up to 50+ games to compare.

@Solid_Python Bananza has one of the top metacritic scores for the year. It will be interesting to see if silksong ends up lower or higher. Considering this article is ranked by user scores and most players haven't finished silksong yet, the ranking here isn't exactly final either.

@Polvasti scrambled eggs has both a switch 1 and switch 2 release. I assume there is some small difference (maybe mouse mode?).

@Misima I assume you end up with BotW and MK8 Deluxe if you throw off the later games from Switch 'best' lists. Time will tell if Bananza can stay near the top years later like those early Switch 1 games did.

@Ooyah Thank you for the call out and I hope you enjoy Bananza! Great game. I'm definitely a sucker for some of the smaller shorter indies. There are lots of fun less known ones.

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

• Kirby and the Forgotten Land - Continuing the DLC. This really makes me want a true brand new Kirby.
• Leo's Fortune - This is such a cute game. Great steam punkish aesthetic even though you play as a bright fuzzy puffy round thing with a mustache. Finished the game and played a little of hardcore mode, though beating the whole game in one life would be crazy considering some of the precision jumps.
• Hello Kitty Island Adventure - Focusing on recruiting visitors to move in permanently. Up to 15 now with many many more to go. 2 weeks until the DLC!
• Witchroid Vania - A silly small metroidvania where you play as a witch.
• Donkey Kong Bananza - Going to do a little fossil hunting.

I'm a little surprised the only options were 'full priced games' and 'indies'. I buy a lot of on-sale major games so those didn't get counted.

It's fun - it's more Forgotten Lands. But also very short. I don't normally rate DLC because it's hard to know what to compare it to.