Fizza

With how a lot of Pokemon fans on Twitter have reacted to the lack of Legends Z-A news here, I'm not sure whether they want newer games to come out sooner or later to be honest XD

In all seriousness though, while I wasn't expecting an actual trailer for Z-A in a million years, I was hoping that we'd get the announcement of a Presents for the end of the month so nothing on the main game front is definitely a shame. Still, I'm very excited to see Owner's Pokemon come back to the TCG (with absolutely GORGEOUS art at that) and stuff like TCG Pocket getting a release date and Psyduck joining Unite were super cool as well.

The World Championships themselves were great too; no Incineroar in Top 32 for the first time since it originally got Intimidate was a sight to behold 🤩

Gonna get it out of the way first so no-one else can: that's it no Smash?

This is such a bizarre thing to dedicate a Direct to but I've been extremely interested in how this whole 'Nintendo Museum' is gonna play out ever since it was first announced all that time ago so I'll definitely be tuning into this to see what's up!

@JohnnyMind @S83 How do we know that Jpt isn't just the Dark Link counterpart to Jot? 😉

I'm in a conflicting state of mind about this between 'YESSSSSSSS ITS FINALLY COMING OUT SOON!!!!' and 'NOOOOOOO ILL BE TOO BUSY WITH AA INVESTIGATIONS!!!!' XD

Unfortunate personal timing aside, its awesome for Plucky Squire to finally have a proper release date and a close one at that. I may not have the time to play it around its release but you better BELIEVE I'm diving into it the moment I find the time to do so

What a fantastic surprise! I was convinced Bakeru was going to go the way of Mother 3 and (until recently) Ace Attorney Investigations 2 of being a universally beloved game stuck in Japan so seeing it get a proper localisation with a free demo to boot has me over the moon.

Might tackle a couple Goemon games in prep for it now as I know it takes heavy inspiration from them, can't wait to finally be able to experience it in English!

CHIBI GORONS MY BELOVED 💖 💖 💖
My interest in EoW was already piqued from its initial reveal, but seeing just how dense every aspect of it truly is has me incredibly excited. It really does feel like a 2D translation of the freedom you'd see in BOTW/TOTK and that level of player expression in how you're able to tackle everything sounds utterly riveting (despite how much my brain is assuredly going to melt trying to figure out all the abilities available to use XD).

Won't be getting it immediately as I only have the money for so many new releases this year, but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it for after I make my way through the back catalogue of 2D Zeldas!

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn has been one of my most anticipated releases of the past while so I'll gladly be divulging in this demo to see how it shakes up compared to the original. Mainly hoping for better controls/overall game feel but given TENGO's previous works, that should hopefully be agiven ^_^

I....don't really know how to feel about this to be honest. I'm ecstatic that more people are going to be able to experience such a delightful little gem of a dungeon-crawler for the first time (provided they have NSO EP), but it feels like such an odd inclusion to prioritise over stuff like Wario Land 4 and the mainline Pokemon games when it already has a Switch remake that, in my opinion, is easily the definitive version of the game.

Still, I'll take any excuse to replay Rescue Team again and an entirely new generation getting introduced to the banger that is Sky Tower is never a bad thing 🐉

Don't really see much of a need to renew right now (my current sub runs out at the end of October I'm pretty sure) but its a nice promotion to have all the same.

Honestly though, those Game Trials are what interest me a hell of a lot more because I don't think we've ever had multiple running at once before? Super interested in seeing what those games could end up being 👀

Hard choice between SNES NA and DS for me but in the end....yeah I gotta go with SNES. I absolutely love the simplicity of the DS cartridge and its dark-grey colour is immensely iconic for me, but the SNES cartridge is pretty much perfect. It's:

• big
• stylistically unique
• slots into the system well
• allows a great display of the game's cover art
• contains the game's name on the top

I may hold a greater deal of nostalgia to DS, but the SNES NA cartridges are just MUAH: chef's kiss.

@IceClimbersMain Yeah that's something I've noticed myself; you can get pretty much any 1st-Party Switch game from 2019 and back for under €30-€40 if you look around hard enough. It's annoying that there isn't an official discounted range, but second-hand shopping isn't too bad overall.

For as much as I adored the Selects range (it was how I experienced titles like Kirby's Triple Deluxe and Luigi's Mansion 2 for the first time), to me, it was always born out of a desperation for quick and easy sales.

The promotion started when the Wii's popularity was rapidly dwindling and ended (so far anyway) at the twilight years of the worst-performing Nintendo home console. The Switch by comparison has done astronomically better than pretty anything else Nintendo put out during the 2010's and the game lineup for it has become so revered with both the casual and hardcore market that, in the eyes of a Nintendo exec, offering them for the same price as Selects feels like you'd be losing more money than you'd be gaining.

Still, I'll always appreciate the way Selects opened the floodgates for people to try out games they probably wouldn't have ever thought about giving a go otherwise and live and pray for the day those beautiful scarlet-coated cases return 🙏

'because the original Amiga version required the use of a mouse, Publisher Pixel Games UK neglected to offer any feasible way of interacting with the dialog box on the Switch, thus creating a game-breaking bug'

modern problems require modern solutions

As a pretty recent convert to roguelikes as a genre, I've always wanted to give the one that basically started it all a go at some point so seeing such an obvious issue get through testing is a damn shame. Hopefully it'll get fixed sooner rather than later but yeah: super bizarre oversight for sure.

I'm actually a pretty big fan of how the anime-styled Castlevania games look (Rondo of Blood, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin) but in terms of these boxarts? Yeah EU is definitely getting my vote this week.

Here's the thing right: I like the idea of putting emphasis on the main cast of the game (because the Sorrow games have....a lot of characters to put it mildly XD), but the anime style they went with for the cover ends up having them all clash together in a pretty unappealing way in terms of the overall colour scheme. The EU cover then focusing exclusively on Soma serves to balance out the black and navy of the background wonderfully.

My only real critique is the clutter of all the 'Best Of' stickers they plastered on the right-hand side but apart from that? Yeah its a good one and it reminds of just how badly I want to experience both Aria and Dawn of Sorrow down the line 🦇

This is probably the first week in a while where I'm really unsure on what to play right now. Just took care of both Metroid Prime (an absolutely phenomenal translation of the series into 3D) and Final Fight 2 (weaker than the first but still a good time overall) earlier on in the week so trying to decide what to play now has me scratching my head a little bit. Might try and take care of some titles that have lingered in my backlog though like Sonic the Hedgehog 1, Devil May Cry 4 or Behold the Kickmen ^_^

@cmlobue Call that 'couch co-op' if you will 😛

you can romance a toilet, 10/10 no notes 💯

Dating sims are not usually my forte in the slightest, but this one has a premise just wild enough for me to be immensely intrigued and hearing its by a studio comprised of a ton of my favourite gaming VAs has me even more interested in giving it a go. Couple that with some fantastic character designs and yeah: I'm definitely sticking this on the wishlist for future reference!

Humble Games was one of the most consistently quality indie publishers for the last couple years (Hat in Time, Unpacking, Signalis, etc.) so seeing this news come out last night caught me so off-guard. Praying every poor employee affected by this is able to find their feet quickly 🙏

also the statement calling this a 'restructuring' when literally everyone got laid off feels mighty disrespectful to those let go (even more so if the claims of it being written by AI are true) 😓

For a series as immensely niche as Denpa Men, 100K downloads on the very first day is insanely impressive; glad to see one of Genius Sonority's more delightfully bizarre IPs relishing in success!

Makes sense: Capcom feel like one of the few 3rd-Party companies who've actually increased their physical presence over the past while, particularly with the Ace Attorney rereleases and, more recently, the Marvel VS Capcom Collection.

They're still definitely a digital-leaning company as of now (especially with all that damn MTX grumble grumble) but it does bode well for the future that they're consciously aware of the demand for physical media of their games.

With all due respect....these are 3-5 hour long action platformers: can they REALLY be that hard to make?

As someone who just recently wrapped up a year-long marathon of all the classic games (11 and 6 are the best btw), it frustrates me to no end how wishy-washy Capcom is with Mega Man as a series: sometimes they give him all the attention in the world, the next they leave him out to dry. I'd love to see a brand new one within at minimum the next 5 years but given their vagueness on the IP, even that might be stretching it 🙃

Just wrapped up my playthrough of Ace Attorney Dual Destinies yesterday with its DLC case (which is probably the best case in the whole game honestly) so I'm going to be starting my journey through a game/series I've had on my mind for the last couple months: Metroid Prime. I've had the Wii Trilogy ever since Christmas of last year and, with Prime 4 finally getting a release window, I figured now would be the perfect time to give it a shake and see what all the hype is about! 👽

I'm always down for a short artsy platformer in the vein of something like Inside every now and then and SCHIM looks like a real treat in that regard. I unfortunately don't have the means to pick it up right away (saving my money for Shadow of the Ninja/Ace Attorney Investigations) but I definitely plan on giving it a shake later down the line!

I know this sounds a bit odd, but a survival horror game lacking in scares honestly isn't that big of a dealbreaker for me whatsoever as, with the genre, its less about the visually scary stuff you come across and more the anxiety that comes with managing your resources and from what I've seen of Conscript from both its trailers and this review, it seems to handle that aspect just as well as the RE games that inspired it while utilising its pretty unique setting very well. Definitely putting it on the wishlist for future reference!

Given how Echoes of Wisdom has a much heavier emphasis on puzzle-solving to reflect Zelda being the wielder of the Triforce of Wisdom, I'd love for Ganondorf to get a game that's heavily action-oriented to compliment it due to him having the Triforce of Power (pretty much what happened with the Oracle games in a sense).

As for what I'd personally want, I'm not sure it would ever happen, but a character-action game in the vein of Devil May Cry starring Ganondorf would be one of the coolest things ever and would perfectly sell his overwhelming strength compared to those around him.

I CAN'T F***ING BELIEVE IT THIS IS LITERALLY THE BEST OUTCOME EVER OH MY GOD

I've been wanting to play Famicom Detective Club ever since the remakes of the first two games came out in 2021; never in a million years did I anticipate they'd actually lead to a new entry! 👻

this has got to be the quickest 'Splatfest end --> reveal of the next one' in the series history XD

I may be a bit sick of food-themed Splatfests (I guess you could call it having a case of food poisoning) but I'll make an exception this time around because starch-based foods is a very unique idea for one.

As for my own choice?

yeah for as much as I like bread and rice, this one's a very easy choice for me 🍝

Boktai truly is a tragedy of the video game landscape because the game's central gimmick of using actual sunlight as a core mechanic is so supremely clever and ingenious....and also makes it nigh impossible to port to modern platforms.

I've been enamoured with the concept of Boktai from the moment I first saw it and I hope that someday, I'll be able to experience it on official hardware the way it was intended ☀

they REALLY want people to use Big Bubbler huh XD

Definitely a more buff-focused patch than a nerf-centric one this time round and honestly? I'm completely cool with it. No Trizooka nerfs outside of a pretty niche interaction is immensely frustrating and I'm not sure reducing the PFS on Kraken weapons (especially Bloblobber Deco) is a particularly good idea but apart from that? Tons of nice changes to weapons like Douser Dualies, Blaster and Brellas in general are pretty awesome to see.

I was planning on grabbing it (even picked out an eShop voucher specifically for it) but after the most recent Direct, I'm probably going to give it a pass for now. It still looks like a very fun time (the Crash Bandicoot fan in me always appreciates speedrunning challenges in games) but with stuff like Mario & Luigi, Marvel vs Capcom and especially Ace Attorney Investigations on the horizon, I simply don't have the money right now to pick it up.

Still, it'll hopefully give me an excuse to play through the previous NES Remix games beforehand so that's not too bad I suppose.

While I haven't gotten around to playing Zero Mission yet, I did finally beat the original Metroid for the first time earlier this year and, to me, Mother Brain feels like they were almost intentionally designed to completely shatter your patience with the game.

Metroid 1 has its bright spots: the eerie vibes are wonderfully executed for a NES title, (most of) the bosses are pretty enjoyable and the music is fantastic. However, one thing Metroid 1 is particularly good at....is driving you insane. It can be fun for the first hour or so sure, but the more you play, the more its infuriating degree of crypticness on where to go/what to do starts to seep in and, by the halfway mark, you're basically praying for the end to arrive.

Mother Brain's overall 'fight' then feels almost intentionally designed to wither away the little patience you had left for the game. The hefty missile requirement in order to break through both the barriers and Mother Brain's shield, the constantly spawning donut beams that constantly make you whiff your shots and the threat of going all the way back to the beginning if you die make for an experience that isn't necessarily difficult but one that will test your patience to the absolute limit.

here's hoping Zero Mission's version doesn't make me want to rip my hair out XD

Got a couple of titles on the agenda for this weekend myself:

• Ace Attorney Dual Destinies: Been making my way through DD for the last week or so and have been having a pretty fun time all things considered. I'd definitely say its one of the weaker entries in the series but a weak AA game is, at worst, still very good. Currently at the start of Case 4 and will hopefully be getting that one out of the way soon enough!
• Splatoon 3: While I haven't played too much Splatoon as of late, I always make time to participate in Splatfests and SummerFest especially is no exception. Gonna be repping Team Palace this time around I'm anticipating it'll be a very good time indeed!
• Densetsu no Starfy: Started the first Starfy game yesterday the moment I heard it had arrived on NSO and it's been a supremely relaxing experience so far. It's definitely a simple little platformer, but one packed to the absolute BRIM with charm and memorability. Can't wait to (hopefully) finish it off and continue my journey through the series over the next while!
• Behold the Kickmen: Euros Finals Day is this weekend so I figured I'd play a footy game to mark the occasion. I didn't want to go with a generic soccer game like FIFA though so I picked up Behold the Kickmen (a small indie title made by someone who has absolutely no clue what football is about) in a recent eShop sale. I have absolutely no idea what to expect from it but it should be a novel little experience all the same.

Overall, it's gonna be a weekend filled with both drama and relaxation in equal measure XD

It feels almost impossible to imagine that a series with the main gameplay premise of 'Kirby but exclusively water levels' could be in any way enjoyable but after playing the first game for just under an hour earlier on....no I absolutely get it, Starfy rules.

The heavier emphasis on explorative platforming compared to Kirby's more action-oriented affairs, the delightful character designs from the charming NPCs to the adorable enemies and, perhaps most surprising of all, the controls feeling extremely fluid and responsive despite being mainly used underwater give it an identity far beyond just being 'like Kirby' and, for a series I had basically no real knowledge of prior to today, I'm very happy that's the case.

I've only played a decent bit of Starfy's first outing but I'm itching to keep going. A great little gem, a great little writeup and I hope Starfy's able to come back into the limelight someday

YEAHHHHHHH I LOVE NSO BRINGING JAPAN-ONLY GAMES OVERSEAS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER THIS IS AWESOME

I've heard nothing but fantastic things about the Starfy games myself (with the series being very much likened to Kirby in terms of its vibes and breeziness) so I can't wait to dig my teeth into these; still can't believe they're finally releasing the original GBA trilogy outside of Japan! 🌟

Actually just picked up Behold the Kickmen for finals day myself so that should be a fun and fitting title for the occasion (plus it'll help break up my playthrough of Ace Attorney Dual Destinies so that's always a bonus).

I feel utterly entranced by this. This really does seem like a wholly 1st-Party affair too given the announcement time of 2PM (the time usually reserved for Nintendo-specific games) which just makes me even more intrigued. Nintendo VERY rarely does full-blown horror (with the only examples I can really think of being Eternal Darkness and Fatal Frame) so Emio potentially being a horror-centric new IP has me very excited to learn more.

Bit ironic that the pixel-approximation actually sells the impact of the punch better than the hand-drawn boxart XD

Still going with EU/JP though; while I appreciate what they were going for with early NES boxarts in making them accurate to the game they were for, the hand-drawn version is just more visually appealing (plus its the general image I associate Urban Champion with for good measure).

After taking care of a fair number of titles during the week such as Paper Mario TTYD, Mach Rider and even Sonic Colours, I think it's finally time to continue the Apollo Justice Trilogy with Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies. DD tends to be pretty divisive within the general AA fandom from what I've seen so I'm excited to see what exactly about it makes it so polarising XD

this is somehow not the wildest console-turned-food-holster story I've seen today

Don't live in NA so I won't be taking advantage of these sales myself, but the Ace Attorney Anthology for $45 is a fantastic deal for a bundle which encompasses every mainline AA game thus far. Can't recommend it enough personally for those looking to dive into the series as a whole (especially when Edgeworth's games are on the horizon ^_^)

bro I was perfectly content with Mach Rider being the last game of the drop and then the trailer just kept GOING XD

This has to be one of the largest NSO drops of all-time, right? Sure, its not like any of these are insane titles (though Mach Rider makes me very happy as it's a game I've wanted to play for years now) but just the sheer quantity of them is super cool to see. Definitely going to be hopping on these as soon as I can!

also, as a personal thing, I love how they've finally officially added Golf after taking the Iwata reference involving it out of the Switch OS a couple years back; feels really nice to have, yknow? ❤

I mean its not really like they could regulate the sale of these products if its done via the hosting of a third-party marketplace, no? Online marketplaces here in Ireland get flooded with these kinds of listings all the time so I really don't think its all too serious.

Bowser's reply is very funny though because, behind the scenes, he's either completely fine with it or absolutely incensed with no inbetween XD

2024 so far has very much been like 2023 in the sense that I've mainly used it as a 'retro catch-up' year in terms of the stuff I've played so far. Mega Man 11, Castlevania Bloodlines, Super Metroid; I've played a good handful of older titles over the past six or so months, with no sign of stopping at that.

This favouring of older games extends into my 2024 collection, with the only three I've played so far being Apollo Justice Trilogy, Splatoon 3: Side Order and Paper Mario TTYD . And while I do really enjoy the first two (Apollo Justice especially)....yeah no its TTYD and its not even close. I'm not even finished it yet (currently on Chapter 6) and I already know this is one of my favourite games of all-time. The areas, the characters, the combat, the music and the density of it all; it has everything I enjoy in an RPG and then some and its been well worth the nearly year-long wait it took from reveal-to-release for me to finally be able to play it 🥰

Quite surprised to see it chart at No.1 given the price but hey, despite my gripes with the overall cost-to-content ratio, LM2 is still a great game and I'm happy more people are getting the chance to experience it

None of them look particularly standout but none of them look particularly bad either; I've always really liked the artstyle for the first King of Swing game (especially when you compare it to the woefully dull look of the DS sequel) and all three boxarts show it off in pretty nice ways.

Overall though, I'm gonna go with the Japanese one as its more vibrant in its colour choice, shows off the game's gimmick with the grabbable circles and has some very nice art of DK and Diddy.

It may have taken almost a year of waiting, but I finally started my first ever playthrough of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door a couple days ago and, to put it bluntly, it has been nothing short of absolute perfection so far. Just wrapped up Chapter 3 yesterday (RAWK HAWK MY BELOVED 💛🦅💛) and hope to get both Chapter 4 and 5 done over this weekend as well; I'm utterly obsessed in the best way possible XD

the rollercoaster of emotions I was put through upon seeing this announcement and then seeing what games would actually be featured was one hell of an experience XD

Crankiness aside, I can't really complain too much about this as the June Direct was more or less Capcom's main Summer showcase as is thanks to both MvC and Ace Attorney (would've been nice for them to provide more elaboration on either of those two instead of RE7's random iOS port but I digress). Still probably going to tune in to check out Dead Rising though ^_^

WHAT DO YOU MEAN DKC RETURNS HD IS BIGGER THAN TROPICAL FREEZE 😭

I would've been grabbing both of these physically anyway but this has absolutely cemented that decision. I'm also very curious as to how meaty Brothership may potentially be from a length/content standpoint if its file size is nearly as big as both SMRPG and TTYD combined 🤔

the poetic irony of a leaker unwittingly leaking their source feels so amazingly cathartic to me