FishyS

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. I'm going to catch up on Switch demos this weekend. I don't usually play the full demo, just enough to decide if I don't want the game or if I want to add it to my wishlist. Besides that, this week is just continuing games from last week:

• Heart of the Woods - Absolutely lovely story so far; I'm on chapter 5 so I think I'll finish this weekend.
• Fitness Circuit - I decided to go into the difficulty settings and raise them; we'll see if I regret it.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 171/270 main puzzles completed. I have been replaying some old levels for better times so my total playtime on this game is going to be insane.
• Super Mario Maker 2 - Mostly playing @Not_Soos 's super world. I'm about halfway through the 40 levels. Lots of fun traditional levels.
• Moon Raider - Zone 4. I discovered a funny glitch so I think I have over 100% of the collectables but oh well 😆 The bosses in this game are easy but I enjoy short bosses which make you think a little but don't drag on forever.

Side note, but for the last couple months Nintendo has stopped doing their on-Switch 'What's New this week' slightly curated lists. Usually there is only a 1-week holiday break so I'm wondering if they decided to cancel these until Switch 2. Which makes me wonder if they will be doing something better for discoverability on Switch 2.

@BenAV Glad to see Ender Magnolia is good; I've been waiting for a NL review but I definitely want that game.

Looks like a fun game, I'll definitely try it.

@Angelic_Lapras_King @timp29 I'm impressed you two are still super active on this site after dropping comments in this article in 2009. @dartmonkey called your comments 'vintage' 😆

Well, that's sad; I was looking forward to the new game. Maybe I'll replay Celeste.

But will Balatro catch up with Suika Game; still has a few million to go.

I've played hundreds of indies including many great ones, although ironically not Balatro.

@SuprMattio Nice to see an Infinity Nikki player here! I love the game but I'm a little behind because I don't own a device where it runs and controls very well. I'm really hoping it comes to Switch 2.

The game save setup in Tetris Forever was kind of bad, so I'm glad there will be a bit of improvement. Overall, fun and interesting game though.

That's 40 million views on the English tweet. The Japanese Tweet has another 50 million.

Happy weekend and gaming everyone. It's been a bit of rollercoaster with the Switch 2 stuff; I can't wait for the upcoming direct(s). But for now I am playing the usual mix of backlog, continuing games, and sporadic new games:

• Heart of the Woods - I've been in the mood for shortish visual novels lately. So far this game has a really interesting plot and a lot of great voice acting. It's a bit hard to pull myself away from it.
• Fitness Circuit - Getting back into my previous exercise routine with this game after some travel and a bit of an injury.
• Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons - 159/270 main puzzles. The Nintendo website had a section today I've never seen which said 'Since Piczle Cross: Story of Seasons has been your most-played game lately...'. Nintendo is calling me out 😆
• Dragon Saber - I've always wanted to play this game because a shoot-em-up where you're playing as a dragon is just adorable. The game itself has some enemies at your altitude and some below you and it's a lot harder to hit the ones at ground level.
• Moon Raider - I thought this game looked cute and it was on a crazy sale for 50 cents so I grabbed it. Basically seems to be a simple metroidvania-lite. The one somewhat interesting feature is that you can't do an air dash unless you fuel up with gems which you collect along the way. The game is a little jank but it's kinda fun so far.
• Grapple Dog - starting a non-rushed run to 100% all collectibles after which I'll play the second game.

Edit:

• Super Mario Maker 2 - I'm adding this one because I just noticed @Not_Soos has a super world to play. I always enjoy playing levels from creators on this website.

@cosmograph I hope your year gets better. Congrats on finishing Ring Fit! I hope we get good exercise games on Switch 2.

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.