Fizza

The last Partner Showcase we had was absolutely fantastic so I'd be very excited to see what they have in store for next week should this end up being true!

I may love Kirby but I don't love it enough to willingly eat at McDonald's, even if I did live in Japan XD

I've just come off of a big Square Enix-centric spending spree so I don't know whether I'll be grabbing anything here myself, though titles like CrossCode, TMNT Shredder's Revenge and Captain Toad are definitely tempting me 👀

also, for those who might've been holding off until now, this is actually Advance Wars ReBoot Camp's first ever digital sale since release!

I'm a sucker for watching horror games (playing them....not so much XD) so I'll probably love this myself!

One small thing though: calling DOOM and Castlevania 'horror' games is a bit of a stretch imo XD

See, here's the thing: these costumes are really cool don't get me wrong....but I still feel like I have absolutely no f***ing idea what Showtime even is, yknow?

Phantom Thief Peach is pretty rad though can't lie XD

god seeing Wii U games turn 10+ years old will never not feel bizarre to me XD

Looming existential crisis aside, happy anniversary Tropical Freeze! While I haven't played it yet myself (though do plan on doing so before this year is out!), I still massively respect it as one of the kings of modern 2D platformers all the same. Hopefully we'll have a new Donkey Kong game by the time Tropical Freeze's next 10 year anniversary rolls around XD

absolutely inkredible choice of video background XD

As someone who's gotten VERY into roguelikes over the past year or so, seeing that Side Order pretty much nails the gameplay aspects that make me love the genre has me extremely excited to check it out. I think my main concern with it now honestly is that, while everything we've seen of it seems like it'll be good, I worry how the story is going to go given the by-design repeatable nature of roguelikes. We've seen games like Hades be able to marry the two together in the past so I'm praying they can do it here as well because the story/lore is probably the main thing I'm looking for out of DLC like Side Order/Octo Expansion 😅

THE SPLATFEST HASN'T EVEN HAPPENED YET WHAT

Can't say I saw this coming so soon by any stretch of the imagination but I'm really liking what's here honestly! Marlin Airport looks super cool (especially seeing how they're FINALLY using inkfans in stage design again) as does the new Salmon Run map (which looks straight out of Mad Max XD), the brand new Brella/Dualies seem extremely interesting (the Dualies especially like holy hell that range is NUTS) and that Splatfest-exclusive item seems like it'll be just the shakeup the mode needs (at least I hope). Overall it looks like it'll be another pretty cool season and I can't wait for the Twitter dripfeed of info to start up all over again!

also a small detail that I adore here is that the new Brella appears to be based off of the one Marie uses in Splatoon 2

Gonna be wrapping up Metroid II: Return of Samus on GB NSO the minute I get home from work today (got about 10 Metroids left to defeat and, as of now, I definitely feel like it's better than the first game, though not by much 🥴) and once I have that out of the way, I'm going to be tapping into my inner childhood nostalgia by starting my first ever playthrough of the original LEGO Batman on PS3. Should be a very fun weekend of relaxation overall (which, when you've just finished a grueling onslaught of exams, is exactly the kind of weekend I need XD).

also shoutout to whoever put down Metroid Prime 4 as their weekend gaming in the poll XD

@FishyS Same here honestly: while I also can't compare it to the originals as I started the series at Gen 5, BDSP was a blast from a gameplay standpoint with the impressively high difficulty compared to other modern entries and the chibi style, while it certainly benefitted some characters more than others (poor Cyrus/Volkner), looks really well done for the most part!

@CaleBoi25 @arabiansanchez In the voting process that happened last week, they specifically outlined that they wouldn't be including remasters like MPR or Skyward Sword HD as they fall into a sort of grey area between ports and remakes.

Seeing this list really does put into perspective just how many remakes they did for GBA and 3DS specifically because WOW there's a lot XD

I've always been an avid fan of remakes in general myself, especially in regards to comparing both the new and original versions and seeing what was changed, improved, removed, etc. Having said that then, I oddly enough haven't played that many Nintendo remakes in my time (I think I've played about 8-9 of the games here?) but I don't think my overall favourite is going to be changing any time soon: Link's Awakening 2019. Utterly gorgeous aesthetically, super fun gameplay-wise with great modernisations and the game that turned me into a Zelda fan; absolutely adore LA 2019 myself 💖

hoo boy there's a LOT to unpack here XD

Okami, Breath of Fire and Dino Crisis getting mentioned on the 'potential sequel/something with the IP' list makes me very happy, even if I'm personally doubtful anything will actually come of it, but it's the potential remake list that has me intrigued to put it mildly. Final Fight makes a pretty decent amount of sense given the resurgence of beatemups over the past couple years (plus I'm pretty sure a remake of it was mentioned in that Capcom gigaleak a couple years back). It's the mention of remakes for Mega Man AND Ace Attorney 1, 2 and 3 though that....perplexes me. Like don't get me wrong; seeing a version of MM3 that's actually polished would make me very happy and I'd scream if we finally got 3D models for the OG AA Trilogy cast....but why even dedicate time to something like that when the collections are right there?

Overall a very strange list but I'd be pretty cool with a lot of the stuff listed here honestly.

also yes I asked for Ace Attorney 7 at the end, can you blame me?

Gonna be down the country for the bank holiday this weekend so I'm going to take advantage of it and start up Mega Man 8 for the first time as a result. I've heard both good and bad things about 8 and am very curious to see what I end up thinking about it

Give how short Mega Man games tend to be though, if I get it out of the way sooner than anticipated then I'll probably be either starting my Stephen playthrough of Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game, continuing my Metroid marathon with Metroid II: Return of Samus on NSO or just knocking out another set of puzzles in Picross S (you can never have too much Picross in your life after all XD).

20XX is closer than ever guys

Ace Attorney cracking the physical Top 10 of any sales chart is honestly kind of astounding so I'm very glad to see it on here XD (plus a Mystery Dungeon game landing above TEKKEN in the charts is wild in the coolest way possible)

also there's a small mistake with the Top 10 console sales; the PS4 is above the Series S when it should be the other way around

I WAS WONDERING WHY THE HELL IT TOOK AN HOUR TO DOWNLOAD WHAT DO YOU MEAN 5GB!?

Definitely one of the more unusual Splatfest propositions we've had in the series (though I don't think anything is ever going to beat Front Toilet Roll vs Back Toilet Roll) but I quite like it honestly. Kind of torn on which one to go with too; Saturday would've been my go-to answer in the past but given how I'm at work for the majority of that day nowadays, I'm not so sure I should go for it. Hopefully Frye will finally be able to get another win from this too; I think it's been a year since she last won with Sweet? 🥲

@Croctopus They're promoting the Japanese Fest alongside 7-Eleven in Japan so I assume it's probably a collaboration between them and Ninty.

Not the biggest discount in the world (Square do tend to be a bit stingy in regards to FF sales) but I'm very tempted to get the whole collection now as it's effectively 6 games for the price of 5. I've never played a Final Fantasy game before in my life either so it'll be an interesting experience to say the least XD

I've genuinely become immensely interested in MvsDK thanks to a lot of the recent trailers so I'll definitely be giving this a go whenever I have the time!

yknow I was gonna make an 'international copyright law' joke/reference but no this is ACTUALLY Godzilla

Very happy to see this though; Dave the Diver is a very goofy game and chucking in arguably the most iconic sea-based monster of all time is insanely cool.

I can already envision the looks of horror on parent's faces upon searching 'Sonic X Shadow' online.

Jokes aside, this looks pretty good! It's great to finally have Generations available on Switch and throwing in some extra Shadow-themed content is a great bonus (never expected them to call back to the original Shadow The Hedgehog in a million years). I've been meaning to pick up Generations for a bit and this seems like the perfect way to do so (assuming SEGA don't f*** it up XD).

Ah that's a bit of a shame to see honestly, even if it was all but inevitable given their status as a subsidiary. In terms of their output, I've only really been interested in Oninaki (still remember it immediately catching my attention when it first popped up in the September 2019 Direct all those years ago) though I kind of want to play through all three of their games now that they're effectively no more....once they go on sale again anyway seriously have you SEEN the prices those games are going for on the eShop!?

Metroid Zero Mission is definitely my most wanted title for GBA NSO overall (it's the original Metroid but with a map and Fusion's controls, HOW COULD I NOT BE INTERESTED) but stuff like Klonoa: Empire of Dreams and Ninja Five-O would be wonderful deep cuts to see get added as well. Boktai is also a massive want for me as I've been enamoured with it's gameplay premise ever since I first learned of it a couple months back XD

Probably just gonna be Apollo Justice for me this weekend (and maybe a bit of Pokemon Scarlet too with those event outbreaks that are currently going on). I've already beat Case 1 and am about to start the 2nd Investigation segment of Case 2 and good lord: this might be on track to become my favourite mainline entry. The plot is incredibly intriguing, the music is fantastic and the characters and the dialogue surrounding them genuinely might be my favourite in the series. I'm literally about to start it up again as I type this, cannot wait to keep on going!

THE PROPHECY HAS FINALLY BEEN FULFILLED

I am currently Nintendo Downloading this as we speak XD

I've been pretty quiet on Palworld overall (mainly because I feel like everything I could say about it has already been discussed in great detail) but holy s*** this is unprecedented. TPCi, to my knowledge, have NEVER done something like this and it speaks volumes to how much Palworld is basically walking the tightest tightrope imaginable in terms of originality.

anyways instead of Palworld, you guys should go play all the other cool monster-catchers available on Switch like Cassette Beasts, Coromon or DQ Monsters if you want to try a new spin on Pokemon 👍

Pretty great patch overall (love how hard they went on buffing stuff like Brellas and Rollers and the reworks for Wave Breaker and Ink Storm sound amazing!) though I don't get the thought process behind buffing the damage on N-ZAP of all weapons 😵‍💫

WHY DOES THE BIGGEST NEWS ALWAYS DROP WHILE I'M AWAY DOWN THE COUNTRY AAAAAAAAAAAAAH

I was totally convinced they'd drop Side Order at the start of the next season so it releasing in mid-to-late February is definitely a great surprise that has me even more excited than I already was (though I will say: that release date does feel oddly specific.... 🤔)

also that is one HUNDRED percent Agent 4 in the upper middle of that new keyart, I'm calling it now

This is literally a plotpoint in Justice for All if I'm not mistaken XD

HIS NAME IS APOLLO JUSTICE AND HIS TRILOGY IS DOING FINE

I had a feeling the AJ Trilogy would review well but a 9/10 is a very pleasant surprise (especially given how divisive the entries featured in it are within the AA fanbase XD). I've been looking forward to it ever since it got announced and given how I've been going through a bit of a rough patch in my life at the moment, it's exactly the kind of pick-me-up that I need. January 25th can't come soon enough!

Quite frankly until I actually see a brand new game, I'm not going to believe them XD

I'm very happy with how they've been going about Ace Attorney for the past couple years honestly. Yeah it'd be great to actually have a brand new mainline entry (or even another game in either of the spinoffs) but getting everyone reacquainted with the series before making a new one (especially when 5 and 6 were digital-only 3DS releases) has been great for making a new generation (such as myself) fall in love with this series. Now give me my Athena Cykes game now Capcom >:3

@BookhouseBoy Well the engine was first created for/used in RE7 so it probably does stand for Resident Evil, but I imagine they needed it to mean something else if they wanted to use it in other games that weren't RE XD

Really like the EU boxart myself: it fits in the general layout that NES boxes had at the time while also featuring some damn cool artwork. I may not like the game itself all too much but it had some pretty memorable boxart no matter where you looked honestly.

I'll most likely be continuing my way through Eastward while it's available on NSO this weekend; just finished Chapter 2 last night and I am.... not OK in the slightest 😭

so yeah it's been pretty good so far XD

@LavaTwilight Bee Zz 👍

2023 was a fantastic year for games but a disastrous year for gaming and stuff like this really does just solidify that in my eyes 😞

@ScalenePowers Hi, resident Splatoon nut here! Basically what happens is, whenever they want to change up a map due to a number of different factors (most commonly due to it not being fun to play on in a majority of modes), they use an in-universe construction company (as signalled by the hardhat-wearing navy mascot on the site plans) to show how the area is 'under renovations' and won't be usable for the duration the tweaks on it are occurring.

Splatoon lore is basically just 'every single thing has an in-universe explanation no matter how minute that thing may be' XD

THE MAP IS FINALLY GOING TO BE PLAYABLE

I mentioned it under the ACR review but it's still so wild to me that ArcSys of all companies worked on this. I know that a lot of ex-Cing devs work there nowadays (including the original game's director at that) so the collaboration definitely makes sense, it just feels weird to see given how little Nintendo's worked with ArcSys directly before.

@LadyCharlie An interaction between Ashley and Sin Kiske would be one of the most awkward moments ever and I'd be incredibly down for it XD

@darkswabber Really? I remember Mario+Rabbids (a game I've owned practically since I first bought my Switch) having a Game Trial a while back and I was able to grab the Platinum Points for playing it just fine by just booting it up and exiting out again. Maybe you have to check the NSO section of the Switch menu in order to get them?

GODDDDDD I REALLY WANT TO TRY THIS BUT I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I'LL HAVE THE TIME DUE TO EXAMS 😭

If I can find a way to free up my schedule, I'm definitely going to give this a go as I've heard nothing but great things about Eastward (plus it'd give me something to tide me over until the game-I've-talked-about-too-much-over-the-past-couple-weeks releases XD).

@Coolmusic @PikaPhantom Huh, that's really fascinating. I know ArcSys are known for stuff other than fighting games (River City being a good example) but it feels kind of bizarre to see their name be attached to a remake of a slow-paced, narrative-driven adventure game XD

@PikaPhantom Do you have a source for this? Because I think this would be one of the first times Nintendo's ever worked with ArcSys if so 🤔

Aww that's absolutely lovely to see!

....wait a second.

ENHANCE

Nintendo really can't stop accidentally putting Inktolings into Splatoon can they XD

Anyone who knows me will be well aware of how much of a sucker I am for narrative-driven adventure games and Another Code seems like it'll be another great addition to my ever-growing library of them. While I can definitely relate to the cons in the time I spent playing the demo (the default camera speed especially was WAYYYY too slow), the pros more than outweigh them in my opinion and it's going to be such a blast going through a Nintendo-developed entry in one of my favourite genres of all time.

....eventually anyway; ACR releasing a week before Apollo Justice Trilogy is some pretty unfortunate timing for me XD

@kid_keo Aww thanks so much! That's genuinely made my day XD

Like many others here, I probably will....once it gets those typical Ubisoft sales. I've grown quite fond of Metroidvanias over the past while and The Lost Crown looks like an absolute belter in that regard, but it'll more likely than not be around 50% cheaper in the coming months.

Still looking forward to it though XD

I've always heard Golden Sun be described as a great beginner RPG and while I'm definitely familiar with the genre (Pokemon is my favorite series of all time after all), I've never really been able to crack traditional RPGs so far and GS feels like the game that'll finally do exactly that.

Not gonna play it immediately (Apollo Justice is a week away after all) but God I cannot WAIT to eventually make my way through this gem of a series 🥰

by their own logic, they're probably gonna go after this next

All jokes aside, WOW this is one of the stupidest things I think I've ever seen. Like genuinely: how does someone look at the letter 'R' and have their first thought be 'HOW DARE THEY INFRINGE ON OUR COPYRIGHT' 😵‍💫

Absolutely idiotic stuff and I hope Remedy can settle this as quickly as possible.

....I don't want to say they're tempting fate here but given the entire debacle with Dolphin on Steam, I'm a bit wary this might give them a bit too much attention if you know what I mean.

Kid Icarus Uprising in VR sounds like a pretty fun time though ngl