Fizza

Of course they decide to add a Whittaker costume right after she was booted from the role. That's certainly some unfortunate timing right there.

These are very cool costumes though. On a side note, it'd be a cool touch if, whenever you respawn with these costumes, it has a bright yellow glow similar to when the Doctor regenerates. That'd be pretty neat.

I know I just talked about a Pokemon moment in the last spooky article, but there's only one thing that comes to mind for me in regards to this question: N's Room from Pokemon Black/White.

Imagine the scenario: you're a 7-8 year old playing through your very first Pokemon game. You run around the region catching anything that piques your interest and getting through it relatively painless (save for Skyla's Gym Puzzle grumble grumble).

You make it to the Elite 4 to try and battle the Champion who's skill you had heard so much about and succeed....only to be beaten to the punch by the leader of the evil team (and your rival). From there, the castles bridges crash into the league and it's all go-go-go: Team Plasma have taken over and it's up to you and the Gym Leaders to take them down. As you storm through the castle, you move into each room you find to talk to the grunts, heal your Pokemon, all sorts of stuff, not deviating from the established European gothic aesthetic.
And then you get to N's Room.

A room completely unlike the rest, and with what can only be described as the most chilling song ever put in a Pokemon game, it tells the story of the innocence and psychological manipulation of a gifted child all in one.

AND IT GOT EVEN WORSE IN BW2.

Long story short: Pokemon can be more than just about disturbing animals. It can tell the disturbed stories of the people inhabiting the worlds as well.

I was talking about it earlier on funnily enough, but my pick would probably be the Abandoned Megamart from Pokemon Sun/Moon. There are obviously many great spooky locales to choose from with Pokemon games (Lavender Town, Mt Pyre, Old Chateau, etc.) but between the wholly unique setting, gameplay mechanic making it feel like a found-footage movie, an in-game showcase of Mimikyu's horrific backstory and that damn music, it left such a lasting impression on me.

I guess I'd also put in Splatoon here as well though it's not that there's not any one particular level that's creepy, moreso the entire series if you look deep enough.

@Not_Soos I hope so, I'd kill to see some Fairly Odd Parents representation!

Considering how it's basically the same price-point as the base game, I'll probably pick this up if/when it comes over to Ireland (I'm a simple man with fighting games: if there's an arcade mode, I will most likely play it until the end of time).

The soft confirmation of no more major updates does sting quite a bit, especially when the premise is as cool as it is, but NASB was neat little gem that I hope is remembered fondly in the coming years.

Plus it gave us Garfield in a competitive fighting game which I just think is hilarious.

@RaphaBoss Nah, that's Pneuma.

When I clicked on the article, the only bit that loaded at first was her head so you can imagine it was a fairly big surprise to see those...erm...battalions with her when the page fully loaded.

She looks cute enough though.

You can probably tell what my thoughts are if you read my comment on the last review but I do appreciate that this is a somewhat better experience (even if it's still got the cloud-rooted problems that'd make me not want to touch it whatsoever). Curious as to how all the PS4 entries will fare in a few weeks time.

@OldManHermit Thank you for blessing me with such a brilliant video XD

I don't think I'll ever understand the thought process behind making cloud versions for games like this in order for them to run on Switch. Because let's be honest: if you want a game like Plague Tale or Guardians of the Galaxy, chances are you're more than content to fork out the extra cash to play them on a PC. So to have them on Switch in this manner, especially when it kind of defeats the purpose of having them on Switch (to play them on the go) when you need a constant internet connection? It just doesn't sit right with me. We'll see what happens with Resident Evil in a few weeks time I guess....

Every time I see Lil' Judd now, I can only think of this tweet (slight profanity warning):
https://twitter.com/The_Confuktor/status/1579565438903914496
Big fan of this merch though, the cushions especially are great (they capture Lil' Judd's fuzziness better than the plush honestly). I'm going to go for the Squid/Octo plushies myself whenever I get around to it but these'll definitely be on the wishlist as well.

@Desrever If fan theories are anything to go by, that cautionary attitude is more than justified.

I would've preferred if this came to NSO but I don't care because OH MY GOD I CAN PLAY GLOVER FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!

I hope to god the price-point is good (€20 max is my hope) because ever since I first heard about Glover, I've been utterly fascinated by it as a platformer. Cannot wait for this to come out!

God I vividly remember going to primary school in my mum's car and saying how excited I was for Odyssey to come out back in 2017. I'm now a year away from heading off to college. I feel like a goddamn fossil.

On the topic itself, I'm probably in the camp of wanting Odyssey 2. Odyssey isn't even my favourite 3D Mario game (it's currently behind Galaxy and Sunshine in that regard) but it's also the entry that I could see the most potential for expansion. Capturing as a mechanic alone leads to so many potential ideas and you combine that with the best moveset Mario's ever had for getting from A to B? I'd be ecstatic to see where they take it.

Also if Luigi isn't playable, imma start something.

I may not have played many of the games she worked on, but I still heard them described as some of the best in the entire industry (games like Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy Star especially). A pioneer for female developers that will be sorely missed, rest in peace.

I'm sure he would.

You may not want to admit it but this is peak male performance.

Terrible news to hear. Local video game stores are already in a tough position post-pandemic (retro-focused ones especially) and stuff like this only makes things even worse in that regard. Hope the owners can carry on in Seattle and not have to move, that'd be a devastating blow for the community if that were to happen.

Looks like Ranked will be going through a content drought for the next while without Rainmaker.

Rainmaker is my favourite of the Ranked modes so this does sadden me a decent bit but this also happened right as my NSO subscription ran out so the timing is pretty perfect for me honestly. Hope this gets fixed sooner rather than later though.

Oh and to the people saying 3 is a buggy mess: I don't think you've played the same game as us.
Not trying to be mean; just want to point that out.

Was literally reading the Push Square review of this yesterday, looks like a really cool and unique horror game. Will definitely be considering this for next Halloween (especially with that lovely pricepoint)!

Considering how this is also the time my current NSO subscription has expired....I don't think I'm going to be too upset over missing this. It does look nice enough though and is definitely what Game Trials should be: a way to play a game you had no interest in beforehand for free to see if you like it. Still very mad Japan got Bloodstained instead though, that would've been sick.

Also, what is 'utilizating'?

Was not expecting a 10, fantastic stuff! Regardless of all the controversy that swarmed it for the past week and a half, I had a hunch that, at the end of the day, it'd still be that great Bayo gameplay that everyone loves and I was bang on the money in that regard. I may not be interested in the series myself, but this looks like it was well worth the FIVE year wait!

I NEED A BILLION OF HIM.

The dog lovers (such as myself) are absolutely eating this gen (both figuratively and literally). Gen 9's roster is too good I swear.

I am almost certainly not the right person to ask about this, but as someone who had never been able to play the N64 AND Mega Drive library? I absolutely love it.

I'm aware its got PLENTY of issues (pricepoint, emulation quality, etc.) but I have had an absolute blast with the stuff its provided me. It's made me discover some of my all time favourite games (Kirby 64, Paper Mario, Streets of Rage 2, Gunstar Heroes, WINBACK COVERT OPS BAYBEEE) in addition to being able to play DLC I would've gladly forked over the cash for for absolutely free (besides the €50 entry fee for everything else of course). MK8's is a fun time-killer but being able to finally play Octo Expansion and fall in love with it just like everyone else? It's been heavenly I tell you.

Overall, I've had a great time with NSO EP and will gladly renew my subscription for next year and beyond. Can't wait for Mario Party in a week's time (also give me GB/A games Nintendo you're killing me here)!

God they're so cute.

It's a cool ad overall though. I remember seeing something back in June where people were spotted filming an ad for Nintendo in Spain, which was presumed to be for SV. Now that's been confirmed thanks to the guy in the photos being the same one as this ad which is just pretty damn cool if you ask me!

This looks like a great patch though (even if it's the length of a college thesis). I can lament the fact that only 3 weapons have been changed (Brellas are crying right now) but other than that the sheer amount of bug fixes is highly commendable. Super excited for our first proper content patch in December!

Also poor Flingza got caught in the Tenta Missiles cross-fire, you hate to see it.

@ketrac This is probably my favourite comment of the month so far.

I'm getting big Hisuian Zorua vibes from this trailer: Ghost-type theming, shaky cam footage, the announcer even saying the same opening line, it's very exciting stuff. Going to keep my expectations in check but I'm very excited.

Also, in another callback to the Zorua trailer, I adore how this one is in the shorts format rather than a video because it's being recorded on a phone instead of a camcorder. That's utterly brilliant.

@Browny Quintet Trilogy? That name sounds a bit contradictory to me.

I only heard about Terranigma very recently but I've only heard good things about it and adore the art that was made for it as well so this is a lovely little thing for the anniversary. Here's hoping that we get it on NSO at some point!

Also @Jhena is this where your avatar is from?

I physically swooned when I saw that scar for the first time. You don't understand how badly I want to trauma dump my player character with it.

I think the main reason I heavily dislike AI art is down to the fundamental issue that I believe will make it impossible to 'replace' regular art: personality.

AI art, by it's very design, has to rip something else off in order to make something and, when the entire thing about art is showing your individuality and creativity off (whether that be for monetary gain or just as a hobby), it makes anything made by an AI, regardless of the quality, feel incredibly soulless whether you know it's made by a computer or not.

I really like art myself. I would never say I'm good at it but I love to sketch images off of Google or come up with my own fun comic strips based off of my interests (I'm currently doing stuff exactly like that with Splatoon for instance). So to see this basically come out of nowhere over the past few months (especially with how it tries to exploit real-life artists who actually put in the work to make their pieces as unique and beautiful as possible)....yeah, it makes me incredibly angry. I really do hope this stays a fad and nothing more (minus stuff like the intentionally goofy DALL-E generations, those are more than OK in my book).

@gaga64

Not really going to be gaming too much myself over the weekend (Switch is being extremely temperamental as of late) but I'll probably just get my fix of Splatoon 3 in like usual.

If it doesn't start acting up again though, I'd like to continue Paper Mario 64 (left it at Chapter 6 but with chuggaaconroy's new Let's Play of it, my interest has been reinvigorated) or Zelda 1 (had to play it for NSO missions and would like to give it another shot because of it).

Saw this a few days ago myself, looks absolutely lovely.

It's weird how we never got a handheld Paper Mario game though. I think there was one in development for the 3DS but I don't think that ever amounted to anything (it was apparently going to drastically change the combat/tone which sounded like a recipe for disaster). Glad that never materialised!

I might consider getting this next Halloween if it's on sale. I've always been interested in the Alan Wake series myself for being a horror game with a big focus on story and this seems like a passable enough port (though I'll probably get it on PC over anything else if I'm looking for the best experience).

Also, I really want to see this 'solid, stable performance throughout' in action because from what I've seen online, this port is anything but.

I'd like to make a little addendum to this after seeing a bunch of other previews from other sources.

Firstly, a bunch of the quality of life from PLA seems to have been brought over to SV such as the ability to nickname whenever, crouch and slide (not exactly like PLA's dodge roll but close enough) and, most surprisingly, the ability to perform back strikes on Pokemon in order to give yourself and extra turn at the start. That's one of my favourite mechanics in PLA and to see it brought over (in addition to everything else listed) lets me breathe a big sigh of relief.

Secondly, clothing customisation is not limited to the outfits we've seen them wear in every single trailer according to Gamexplain (THANK GOD), in addition to having the option to customise your hair/eye colour and face shape before starting the game which is an absolutely lovely new addition that'll make a lot of people very happy.

Lastly, sandwich making seems to be able to produce utter abominations and that just puts a big smile on my face.

I've still got my concerns (as I've said above) but a lot of these new pieces of info are pulling me back in bit by bit (which will absolutely be on full throttle come the week of November 18th ).

I never usually have issues with Pokemon games running at a locked 30FPS since that's basically how they've always been since the jump to 3D. My real issue lies when they start to absolutely chug in certain scenarios. Sandstorm/Double Battles in the 3DS games, the Wild Area when online in SwSh, consistent frame drops of that degree can utterly kill my enjoyment of exploring in Pokemon games. And seeing SV run as....meh as it does (from this footage at least) when it's entire selling point is exploration? It does instill a bunch of concern in me.

I'm still going to get it because what Pokemon as a series does in terms of varied creature collecting, memorable locales and detailed competitive is still utterly brilliant and no amount of performance hiccups is going to change that. But SV, at least compared to when it was revealed in February, is probably the least hype I've been for a mainline Pokemon game to come out....ever.

And that kind of just makes me sad.

@Clyde_Radcliffe Oh don't worry, I'm well aware that this only affects this bit (monumentally excited to play PW64 whenever I have the time!), I just think it's a pretty funny quirk is all

Seeing the Switch version of this after the 64 original is like watching a car crash in motion: you're powerless to stop it but you just can't look away.

Seeing him get launched into the sea is also pretty funny.

How the rest of these are received is really going to hinge on how well Village plays for being a cloud version and to say I have low expectations....would be an understatement.

Love the NSO icons though, will definitely be picking those up (Kirby 64/Paper Mario my beloved).

'Hey remember how you didn't get a game in September? Yeah here's our apology'

I cannot begin to tell you how fast I shot up from my bed when checking the news this morning. I would've been content with only the first one and now you're giving me BOTH!? AAAAAAAAAH!

Also these happen to come out 3 days before my birthday which is some absolutely brilliant timing. Can't wait for November 2nd!

It's hard to argue with any of these honestly (I've never played the game and even I love ALL of these songs!) though Beneath the Mask not being on here is a bit of a shame. The Smash rendition especially is brilliant.

That's an immensely amusing coincidence. I'm not interested in Silent Hill myself (though would definitely like to play the original 2 at some point) but this is a lovely bit of news and I wish him all the best!

Also I really hope we get this moment referenced in the new game now that he's in charge.

My personal guess is that Disney are wooses.

It's an interesting idea to basically make 'Villain Rehab: The Game' but when said villains are some of the most iconic in media? Eh, it kind of rubs me the wrong way. Like you said though: it'll be interesting to see what lengths they take this in the future.

Action? MILD VIOLENCE?!

Wasn't interested to begin with, but that frame rate is more than enough for me to give this one a big fat NOPE. I don't have a clue why they didn't bring back characters from the previous games either. You managed to stick in THREE Kamp Koral characters and a literal clone of Reptar....BUT NOT SHREDDER?!

I think it's the extremely miniscule white iris' that do it for me. Put a blood red filter over that and we'll have mickey.exe sooner rather than later.

I'm just imagining this image but with Tracer instead of Sephiroth.

I've actually only ever played a single Mario Party game in my entire life. And do you want to know which one?

Unironically really enjoyed Island Tour by the way, it was the absolute perfect car ride distraction for 10-year-old me honestly.

Needless to say though: I'm definitely excited to play a proper MP game for the first time when they come out on NSO.

OK yep: I'm getting out while I still can. SEE YOU GUYS LATER.