@MarioLinkSamus Alien Isolation runs superbly well on Switch, even in handheld mode on a Switch Lite. I’ve played it on both Switch and Xbox series X and though the latter is far more powerful and upscales the Xbox One version, the Switch version is remarkably good. Along with Doom (2016) it shows how with the right developers they can get games to run that have no right looking and playing as well as they do on the Switch.
With the shoulder buttons (which I’m not sure we’re on the Hori original) this will be great for both Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games, as the X and Y face buttons are redundant for both those systems. Might be worth a look…
I’m pretty sure this is all because he’s going to be announced as the next James Bond. He’s reportedly been in the running for years and anyone who has seen him in Man from Uncle or Mission Impossible can see that that’s how they are pushing for him (a similar thing happened with Daniel Craig and Layer Cake). Tbh if I was him I would be looking to jump from the Witcher (due to the fact it just isn’t very good) and anything DC are doing (how they manage to release flop after flop and keep going is beyond me). DC just can’t seem to admit that trying grittier approaches with Superman is entirely the wrong way to go; he is meant to be the most hopeful and wholesome of all the heroes and the Christopher Reeve films nailed that (‘believe a man can fly’). The theme tune alone is up there with Star Wars and Indiana Jones as inspiring and uplifting (thanks John Williams!)
I had a funny old time with the Wii U. I supported it greatly (I’ve got most physically released games) but the gaps between game releases and the constant negativity in the media made it a strange time. The death of the UK official Nintendo magazine in 2014 coincided with the Wii U’s reign, which was bummer for me as it was one of those constants from my childhood.
The whole mood was strange (at least for me) but it was also the time of the 3DS, so between them there was plenty of Nintendo stuff going on. I also had an Xbox 360 then so the gaps in the Wii U’s releases were mitigated by that.
I do wonder what it would have been like if I’d only had the Wii U, if I would have spent more time with the games I had rather than looking around for other games (a bit like when I was a kid when games were something you pretty much only got for birthdays and Xmas). I have just set it up again for my son to play Minecraft so it’ll be getting some use after a break. Think I might finally have a go at NES Remix 2…
Nice list. I’m only missing 5 of them (Child of Light, Shantae and the pirate’s curse, Affordable Space Adventures, Project Zero and Guacamelee (which I have on Switch).
@Herna you see I had the opposite experience. I’d only gotten an XBox 360 in 2012 (the Wii had been my main console before that) and compared to that the Wii U was so clunky. Don’t get me wrong, I threw myself in with great enthusiasm to collecting and playing the Wii U but something about it was just..off?
In theory it was better than the 360 (it should be being 7 years younger) but it was so slow compared to the Xbox and didn’t really wow in the way it probably should have. By then 360 games were very cheap as well and it was still getting plenty of next gen games (Alien Isolation and Transformers Devastation for example) that you just couldn’t get on the Wii U.
Having said that I had fun with it playing BOTW, Mario 3D World and even Star Fox Zero. Multiplayer was ace as well, especially Nintendoland in 5 player.
I heavily supported the Wii U from 2014 onwards. I loved the Wii and thought ‘more of the same but in HD!’
I knew something was off when I got it set up and couldn’t connect to the internet. It took me well over an hour, right next to the router (with every other device working fine including my Wii that was standing next to it).
I eventually got it to work by quite literally taking the IP address and other information from my iPad and entering that in the system settings (I told a more tech minded friend that I did this and his only reply down the phone was ‘…that shouldn’t work…’). After a few hours of it working the Wii U seemed to figure out that I wanted to go online and sorted itself out and I’ve never had a problem since. However it definitely meant I got off to a bad start with the machine that has lasted to this day…
@DudeshootMankill I’m also old and pretty grumpy too! RE4 remains one of the greatest games of all time (I’ve lost track of the times I’ve completed it on various systems since 2005). Ordinarily I’d be very wary of remakes (Hollywood is notoriously terrible at them) but occasionally there are ones which work so well they surpass the original whilst staying true to what made it brilliant in the first place. Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 remakes are the bench mark for remake/updates done right. Both kept what was so good about the originals but brought the games kicking and screaming into the modern age. Of course the remake of 3 (which I did enjoy) highlighted some of the weaknesses of the original (it was always too short).
As an aside there is also something to be said for going another way; add a new sheen of polish and just tweak things that are a bit anachronistic today. The anniversary edition of Halo CE on 360/Xbox One/Series is a good example, especially with the ability to instantly switch seamlessly between the original graphics and the newer HD update. Ocarina of Time on the 3DS is another good example of a modern update that keeps nearly everything the same to the original but with some optional tweaks for a new audience (I’d love to get that and the update of Majora’s Mask on the Switch in HD).
As a kid there were a few games that freaked me out:
Alien 3 on Mega Drive - if I ran out of time without saving all the prisoners on a state I would turn off the system rather than watching the aliens burst at out of their chests.
Doom - the 2 Barons of Hell you face at the end of the first episode (which we nearly all had as free Shareware).
To be honest games never scared me much, films were much creepier. However, in terms of modern games Alien Isolation has to be one of the scariest games I’ve played and despite being a Resident Evil fan since number 2 I can’t get into RE7. Looking forward to trying the third person view on 8 though and of course the remake of 4 (please oh please let it be as good as the remake of 2!!!)
I heavily supported the Wii U from late 2014. I have nearly 100 physical games and many digital games and have only recently retired it from my setup to make room for newer consoles. Here are my 2 cents:
Pros:
Some great games (though many have superior Switch releases). However the costs of Wii U versions are about half the price of Switch games in my experience.
Some descent exclusives still: Game and Wario, Zelda Windwaker and Twilight Princess HD, Tank,Tank ,Tank!, Zombie U Deus Ex (both are superior with Gamepad integration).
Good selection of retro games, including Game Boy Advance games, on eshop. Good use of save states and off tv play for these.
Pro controller is very good with a long battery life.
Easy to expand storage with memory sticks or external hard drive (though you will either need one with a Y power cable or external power source).
Cons:
Slow operating system, to the extent that it’s unbelievable that the Xbox 360 (which was similar in power and 7 years older leaves it in the dust).
Poor battery life on Gamepad. The expanded battery is very good but probably near impossible to find now.
You cannot change system settings without the gamepad. Although the pro controller can replace the gamepad for nearly everything else without the gamepad you can’t change system settings.
Wii shop retro game selection is far superior. However, I have a hacked Wii and as far as I know it is possible to do the same hack on the Wii mode on a Wii U so the same is achievable. I’ve read that the WiiU itself is fairly hackable but I only have one console so won’t risk it (whereas Wiis are cheap to get hold of so if I brick one a replacement is easy to find).
I own several of Chris’ encyclopaedias (NES, SNES, Mega Drive and the N64 one). I highly recommend all of them. I believe his next one is on the Dreamcast…
@Alaninho I agree with lot what you are saying about the game. It is a game that doesn’t really have a clear message other than morality is generally a grey area or for us to look at the decisions we make playing games. That may be one of its biggest problems as the other Bioshocks were far clearer in their ideas of good and bad.
I suppose the inevitability of the player’s actions always turning out destructive and wrong fitted in nicely with its ideas of fatalism. Having said that the multi-dimension aspect of the game implies that here is at least one world where the Vox are genuinely good, but it is not the world we partake in, which is far more ‘pay evil unto evil’. By that measure there is a world where Booker never gives Elizabeth/Anna up or where Comstock is not an evil bigot, but then that would not really have been much of a story.
I think one interesting inversion the game plays with is that it starts out by hinting that there is a similar morality choice that will determine the outcome by your actions just like in the original game (i.e. to harvest or spare the Little Sisters). You have the choice to humiliate the couple on stage or to refuse to do so. In the end this makes no difference whatsoever, other than the fact that they will later thank you for your kindness if you find them. Your actions don’t change Booker’s fate in the slightest, nor offer any sort of redemption. It’s kindness for kindness sake but doesn’t change the fact that Booker has done some terrible things in his life. Ultimately he is answerable to no one but Elizabeth and himself and chooses death in order to try to make up for what he/Comstock has done. There is no punishment or reward, no legal or divine judgement. ‘No gods or kings. Only man’.
@Alaninho the Vox turning out to be just as ruthless Comstock’s side as the city tears itself apart did seem to be scarily accurate to certain events in the history of revolution, especially the idea that once noble ideals can easily be crushed under anger, greed and a desire for revenge. I’m really surprised that more people were not upset by the obvious discrimination aimed at other groups thought the game.
It did turn on its head the idea that your character is a saviour, as really you are no better than anyone else in the game. You’re only redeeming feature is your attempt to save Elizabeth (which starts off entirely mercenary in nature and only becomes more noble as the game progresses). This leads to accepting that you must die in order to save everyone else, hence ‘redemption equals death’. It is an uncomfortable game to play in terms of its morality but that has been a feature of all Bioshock games. Mechanically though it is a good game.
@Zilock the dlc further fleshes out Fitzroy’s story. We can see that she is being played by the Lutces and is deeply conflicted about her actions and role in the uprising. I believe that there is an audiolog where she specifically talks about how she can see how her actions are getting too extreme but are still necessary but she is unsure. She is far more complex a character than is portrayed in the vanilla game.
I only remember this because Infinite is the last game I completed. Honestly, I still prefer Bioshock 2!
@Wexter I agree with you. I think another issue it dealt with was moral hypocrisy; several characters claim to have the moral high ground throughout but we see it all as a sham as we go through the game.
I’m guessing what Kate might be alluding to (but I could be wrong) is the horrible way American Indians/First People are depicted throughout Columbia. As players we rightly think ‘well that’s awful; even if it was possibly the majority view back then, racism is always wrong’, only to find that not only are we playing as a character who was guilty of massacring entire groups of people at the mere suggestion that he is related to them but that his actions are praised in universe. Booker is the embodiment of the ‘redemption equals death’ trope as he is in no way a good man. He’s very different from Jack in Bioshock (who was largely an unwitting pawn in someone else’s game) or the Big Daddy in Bioshock 2 (who is as much a victim as the Little Sisters), Booker is a man who has committed terrible acts and is on his last chance to redeem himself in some small way (‘bring us the girl and the dept is paid’). Whether that is even possible is left unanswered. The juxtaposition with the overt fundamentalist religious elements (which are exposed as entirely corrupt) is also interesting as well.
I should say I do think it is a good game (it plays well, looks great and provides a decent challenge) but it does tell an uncomfortable story, which isn’t always coherent, so it is far from perfect.
I’ve just recently completed Bioshock Infinite again, this time with the DLC (I last played it on Xbox 360) and my take on it was that unlike Bioshock 1 and 2, in which you had full control over your character’s outcome of being good or bad, Infinite is far more morally gray. Yes, there were some very uncomfortable views expressed by characters throughout, but given the time period it was set in that was unfortunately not uncommon. The fact that there aren’t really any ‘good’ people in it was uncomfortably realistic; the dlc very much helps to show just how morally conflicted many characters are. Booker is only the nominal hero, having done extraordinarily bad things in the past, Elizabeth is consumed by revenge and needs to redeem herself only after her powers have driven her to do some very dark things.
I’m not sure quite what the writers were going for to be honest but my take was that there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people in the world; there are people who do good and bad acts. How much we choose to allow these to define ourselves and others is ultimately up to us. It’s actually quite an existentialist point of view, though ironically we may be ‘condemned to be free’ it is also a game that strongly suggests there is no freedom to our choices (‘there’s always a man and there’s always a lighthouse’).
I remember that at the time my friend group were quite disappointed that they dropped the feature. We were looking forward to running round as ourselves in the game.
<insert obligatory chuckle about the name of the feature, complete with Roger Moore style raised eyebrow>
I really hope this is a stand alone purchase, not simply added to the online subscription. I have access to plenty of N64 games (Pokemon Stadium 2 is interesting for my kids but I still have my old cart of the first game).
If it’s coming to XBox I might get it on ther though; with Rare Replay I already have Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and Perfect Dark sonic would make sense to have Goldeneye on their too.
Still, 16 year old me would have loved to have been able to play Goldeneye on the go…
It’s interesting but I think we might be seeing a bit of a push back against digital sales in some ways. Yes, there is the convenience and space saving aspect of digital libraries but with worries around digital rights, shows being taken off of Netflix etc more people might be returning to actually ‘owning’ media. Even space for physical games isn’t too bad with a bit of work; all my disc based games are in a large wallet with the boxes stored in my loft. My entire games collection resides in two ikea boxes for carts and cd wallets for games. Hundreds of games on one shelf. Same with a lot of my CDs and most DVDs (though I keep my oldest ones on two tall towers in my room). Yes, they may eventually stop working but until they do they are there to enjoy whenever I want, not at the whim of some online company.
Now maths may not be my strong point but if the Switch OLED costs 2p (0.02p) an hour to run then 2 hours per day would be 4p (0.04p) and therefore 2 hours per day per week would be 28p (7x4p) with 5 hours a day being 10p per day times 7 so 70p a week (or half this for the regular Switch so 14p a week 2 hours per day or 35p a week 5 hours a day).
Likewise if the PS5 costs 10p an hour to run then 2 hours a day (20p) times 7 days is £1.40 not £1.43, with it costing 50p a day for 5 hours so £3.50 a week.
Either way, the Switch is far cheaper to run. In fact a regular Switch is 10 times cheaper to run for 5 hours a day than a PS5. Insane!
As much as I’d love it (as the Mega Drive 2 was my first console and it’s still working to this day) I’m not getting this:
1) £105? The last one was £80, which wasn’t bad considering it came with 2 controllers. However the escalation in price for mini consoles kind of defeats the ‘novelty item price’ idea (the NES mini was £50 which is just at that level of ‘oh, go on then!’).
2) A switch not a power button? It’s petty but that’s not what the PAL MD 2 had. Considering the level of authenticity they went with on the first model (down to removable parts and movable volume control) this is a bit of a let down.
3) No adapter? Well, the first model didn’t come with one either, just a USB cable to plug into your tv. Not a deal breaker but at that price?
Pity, for £80 I probably would have got it for pure nostalgia…
@Grim I’m surprised about Double Dash, it feels very much like a more refined version of 64 to me (it is my favourite though so I am biased). In terms of battle mode though, 64 was the favourite until my friend and I discovered Shine Thief on Double Dash after ignoring it for years. That’s now my favourite.
Although I’d messed around with the original SNES game on shops I was a Mega Drive kid in the early 90s. My first true experience was Mario Kart 64. One of my close friends had the game and it became a staple of our Friday/Saturday night 4 player N64 sessions along with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. He was always king of the game (he won a whole school Mario Kart competition despite not yet owning the game the previous year, something he’s still proud of nearly 25 years later!).
However, my first true Mario Kart was Double Dash!! and it remains my favourite by far. It just FEELS right, the physics are spot on and it is bright and colourful. I find the later games, especially 8, have too much going on in the background to distract me from racing. Double Dash got it just right.
Plus also the fact that the very first time I played it was the same group of friends on New Year’s Eve 2004. I was massively hung over from going out the night before and felt rough as anything. Double Dash made me forget my headache and I love it to this day.
Oh and I can beat my friend on it just like he still kicks my backside on Mario Kart 64!
@BTB20 my bad; I didn’t check handheld sales. Still, as it stand Mario Kart has only been the top seller of this generation (if you count the Wii U and Switch as the same gen, but I don’t want to get into a debate about that!)
@Dilly-Mick Mario Kart is always a solid seller on systems, but not the best seller. I’ve just checked; it is the top seller on Wii U and Switch (which is the same game anyway) but Wii was Wii Sports, GameCube was Smash Bros Melee, N64 was Super Mario 64 and SNES was Super Mario World. That’s why I’m surprised that it is the top seller on Switch as it has usually been top 5 but not first.
I agree with you about Animal Crossing and the pandemic; it was heavily advertised in the UK at the time.
My Wii U has been set up ever since I got it in late 2014 but I’ve made the decision that it’s time to retire it. I supported it and have about 80 physical games for it, but between the Switch, Xbox One and modded Wii it doesn’t get a look in anymore. Hopefully at some point I’ll track down a cheap back up console to mod like the Wii but for now it’s time it took its place on my shelf with all my other old consoles, ready to be set up again if I ever get the urge.
Most impressive (for me at least) is that Pokemon has been outsold by Mario Kart and Animal Crossing (!). The shear number of titles selling not just over a million copies (a success) but tens of millions (run away success) is truly staggering. I’ve got a feeling the Switch is going to be the Game Boy of this generation; selling consistently well past its technological prime simply due to convenience, price point and huge variety of games on offer.
I remember being blown away by the original arcade games as a kid. I loved the ports of NES Turtles 1&2 on my Spectrum (despite the drawbacks on the weaker system) and had fun the one time I played Turtles in Time on a SNES in a shop (though as a Mega Drive owner I was hesitant to get too attached to a SNES game…)
Although I knew of Zelda from the hilariously bad 80s cartoon (‘well excuuuuuuse me, Princess!’) and playing the odd bit of the original game on a friend’s NES and another friend’s copy of the old Zelda Game & Watch, my first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, leant to me by someone from school. I was hooked! It was only many years later having played through most of the older games that I realised how much Zelda lore in built into the game but to me it all felt 100% new at the time. I eventually bought my own copy and gave played it through multiple times since.
Funnily enough the very first (and only game) I have ever pre-ordered was Majora’s Mask back in 2000 from an up and coming website called Amazon…
Funny, because at the time Link’s Awakening was considered a spin off, not a mainline Zelda game (it is missing many of the series staples and was a handheld game). In fact I believe it was even called Zelda Gaiden in Japan at one point.
I remember as my first Zelda was Ocarina of Time (I was a SEGA kid in the early 90s) and the hype was massive, as to many the last true Zelda was Link to the Past (Sept 92) with OOT delayed (December 98). I remember it was a really big deal at the time that OOT was not only the first 3D Zelda but also the first console Zelda in over 6 years.
Metroid Prime. As a SEGA kid in the 90sI knew nothing about Metroid, other than seeing Samus in Smash Bros when I got an N64 in ‘98. I played Prime at a display in a store and loved the scanning mechanic. I saw more of it on a friend’s GameCube at university a few months before I bought my own and it looked fantastic. Finally got my own copy a year later and really enjoyed it. However I had a very strange relationship with the game: a number of times I reached the final boss, died and just never came back to finish the job! It was years before I finally sat down and beat it fully, first on my Wii U through the Trilogy release on Wii and then finally last year I returned to it on the Cube and beat. Very satisfying after 15 years!
Look, I love my Switch as much as the next person but this is a bit much, isn’t it? I understand if it’s you’re only console but for me I played Doom Eternal day 1 on Gamepass, then less than a year later got it new sealed for £5, and then got the DLC on sale for £6. £11 for a much better version of the same game (and I do have Doom 2016 on my Switch and it runs really well considering the limited specs of the system.)
£60 for a vanilla version of an inferior (though no doubt still impressive) port? £180 for a load of tat (and still no DLC, which is about 2/3 the length of the campaign on its own)? Limited run are laughing all the way to the bank…
I was on the fence about this, thinking surely it can’t be that bad but those tracks are terrible compared to the originals! Plus the remastered versions sound even worse, really muddy. Glad I’ve got Sonic 3 on various compilations already.
Such a pity. I guess I’ll have to just play the game with the og soundtrack on the Mega Drive cart, Sonic Mega Collection (NGC), Sonic Mega Collection plus (Xbox/PS2/PC), Sonic Classic collection (DS), Wii Virtual Console, Xbox live (Xbox 360/Xbox one) 🤣
In all seriousness it’s a bit of a shame but not the biggest problem out there.
I’ll be picking this up if it comes out in the UK. The first was a great companion piece to the SNES mini (and I was a SEGA kid growing up so was even more welcome). However, I grew up with the Mega Drive 2 so it’ll be great to have a mini of the console that started it all for me. The fact that it will have Mega CD games which were well outside of my budget growing up is a big selling point and I’d be happy if the rest of the games were a mixture of 32X (even if it was just Chaotix) and ‘filling in the gaps’ from the first mini (Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Streets of Rage 1 and 3, Golden Axe 2 and 3 etc) Possibky even some more of the classic Disney games; we got Castle and World of Illusion on the first mini, Quackshot and Aladdin would be great editions.
@HammerGalladeBro I know the bar isn’t exactly set high for video game films but Sonic is by far the best one I’ve ever seen. It’s not perfect, but it is solid and entertaining, so very much like the first Iron Man film. Sonic’s character is pleasant (a mixture of 90s ‘tide and childlike excitement; he comes across as endearing rather than annoying). Jim Carey is channeling his Ace Ventura days as Robotnik (and that’s a good thing; he’s hilarious in the role) and even Marsden’s long suffering sheriff is just dry enough that he works as a counterpoint to sonic (think Jon Arbuckle to Garfield in the comics). I took my then 6 year old son to see it in the cinema and he loved it and I was very amused (there are plenty of Easter eggs for long time Sonic fans). We have it on DVD and it has been revisiting more than once by both my kids, so that tells you something.
I think it’s a combination of being readily available, the brand name and its family appeal. Most people (especially parents) are casual users and will buy something familiar for their kids. I also know from my own little gamers at home that the Switch is well liked, with the PS reserved for FIFA. My son has very little interest in our Xbox, he’s far happier on the Switch/Wii U/3DS.
I’m not going to repeat the ‘don’t buy on day one’ mantra, as it is obvious enough and it’s something I don’t do as a rule, ever since pre-ordering Sonic 2 on Game Gear back in 1992 and it turning out to be significantly worse than the original (not the Mega Drive version, that’s ace!)
Actually I do feel really sorry for people who did get this day 1; with a brand new game you always run the risk of it not living up to the hype and being disappointed (see above), but with games as old as these, combined with some excellent remasters we have seen over the years (Halo Anniversary on Xbox 360 is a good example) you’d think it would be a safe bet to buy something like this even at full price for an updated shot of nostalgia. Sadly the complete lack of pride taken in ports like this undermines the simple pleasure of being able to revisit a bit of the past with some quality of life improvements. I’m glad I’ve still got the discs and my old PS2 to play them on, even if it is through RGB on a CRT to get a semi-decent picture out of the old
I can see the appeal of these pads for the different systems (as I like to play on original hardware where sensibly possible) but as someone who just got the rather lovely Pro controller and as the owner of several descent wired controllers these seem a bit limited in their use.
Sure, you could use the SNES or Mega Drive controller with NES games but you couldn't use the NES or MD controllers with SNES games, so aside from it being a bit strange, if you were to get any, then the SNES one is best for 8 bit and 16 bit games and the N64 one would handle all 4 retro games selections.
Or just get one Pro controller to handle all of them…
There’s a massive difference between a game being ‘too short’ and ‘not outstaying its welcome’. I completed Metroid Zero Mission for the first time the other day in under 4hrs. Felt like the perfect length for a handheld game and I know I didn’t find all the items either, so there is replay value there.
I would take a short and sweet game over something go that drags on. Games like Breath of the Wild have found a good middle ground; sure some people put in 400+ hrs to explore fully, but I enjoyed the sub 100 hours I put into it before moving on.
I’ve been mulling this over for a few days and I’m trying to look at it from different angles:
I’m a veteran Nintendo/SEGA fan since the 80s so there is little incentive to upgrade (or tbh renew Switch Online). I have multiple ways of accessing most of the games offered by NSO, so it doesn’t seem like much value for me (other than the convenience offered by off tv/ handheld mode).
Having said that, at £35 a year (I think that’s right) that works out to about £2.90 a month, which (at least for me) isn’t very much. So actually there’s no real reason to worry so much about the higher price (which I don’t have to pay anyway).
However, if I was either a much younger player (who doesn’t have access NES, SNES, N64 and Mega Drive games already) it’s actually a decent price to pay for a huge amount of content. Likewise, if I had stopped playing games 20 years ago and as an adult played the Switch and had nostalgia for these games, it would be a very convenient and cost effective way of revisiting them, easily connected to modern tvs. Both types of people are probably not too invested in worrying about whether they can still play the games in the future when the service has ended, so don’t care about virtual console purchases; they’ll be happy to either move onto the next generation of machines or stop playing all together.
So really, it all seems to be about how much you personally will get out of it. I hardly touch the NES/SNES apps and when my kids play Switch it is usually for regular games; they can play older games on older systems, mini consoles or original hardware. For a (relatively) low cost I may get it just to have access but I may well not bother. I’ve not actually paid for online for the two years I’ve had a Switch as I got a year free with my Switch lite and another year in with Tetris 99.
Is this the same PETA that decried Pokemon games as being cruel to animals? How is having a chicken pummelled to within an inch of its life by a selection of Nintendo characters not the same?!?
Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic and Knuckles and the first Master System games are untouchable as far as I’m concerned. CD and Mania are very, very close and may well one day be on par with those games (familiarity with the older games and being less familiar with CD/Mania is the only thing separating them at the moment. I haven’t had the desire to put much effort into any other Sonic title, especially the more recent 3D games, as he just hasn’t translated as well as Mario, who remains great in both 2D and 3D (though could also be accused of a bit of over familiarity at times as well, but that’s no great crime).
Although I am a veteran of the playground 16 bit console wars many years later I see Sonic and Mario (and SNES and Mega Drive as well) less as competitors and both examples of equally excellent but quite different sources of entertainment. After all; I love pizza and burgers equally. Neither is ‘better’ that the other, it’s more about what you are in the mood for at the time. Either way, at their very best you are going to have a great time whether you play classic Sonic or classic Mario. We never realised just how lucky we were to have both…
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Re: Quiz: Which Of These Games Is On Switch?
@MarioLinkSamus Alien Isolation runs superbly well on Switch, even in handheld mode on a Switch Lite. I’ve played it on both Switch and Xbox series X and though the latter is far more powerful and upscales the Xbox One version, the Switch version is remarkably good. Along with Doom (2016) it shows how with the right developers they can get games to run that have no right looking and playing as well as they do on the Switch.
Re: Retro-Bit Gaming Reveals A Game Boy Player-Inspired GameCube Controller
With the shoulder buttons (which I’m not sure we’re on the Hori original) this will be great for both Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games, as the X and Y face buttons are redundant for both those systems. Might be worth a look…
Re: Henry Cavill Won't Return To The Witcher Even Though He's No Longer Superman
@calbeau or as a more left field idea Cavill as Caiphas Caine!
Re: Henry Cavill Won't Return To The Witcher Even Though He's No Longer Superman
I’m pretty sure this is all because he’s going to be announced as the next James Bond. He’s reportedly been in the running for years and anyone who has seen him in Man from Uncle or Mission Impossible can see that that’s how they are pushing for him (a similar thing happened with Daniel Craig and Layer Cake). Tbh if I was him I would be looking to jump from the Witcher (due to the fact it just isn’t very good) and anything DC are doing (how they manage to release flop after flop and keep going is beyond me). DC just can’t seem to admit that trying grittier approaches with Superman is entirely the wrong way to go; he is meant to be the most hopeful and wholesome of all the heroes and the Christopher Reeve films nailed that (‘believe a man can fly’). The theme tune alone is up there with Star Wars and Indiana Jones as inspiring and uplifting (thanks John Williams!)
Re: Video: The Wii Is Now Old Enough To Drive
‘Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so’. Douglas Adams
‘Time is like a drug; too much of it will kill you’. Terry Pratchett
Re: Soapbox: After 10 Years I Finally Got A Wii U, Here’s What I Thought
I had a funny old time with the Wii U. I supported it greatly (I’ve got most physically released games) but the gaps between game releases and the constant negativity in the media made it a strange time. The death of the UK official Nintendo magazine in 2014 coincided with the Wii U’s reign, which was bummer for me as it was one of those constants from my childhood.
The whole mood was strange (at least for me) but it was also the time of the 3DS, so between them there was plenty of Nintendo stuff going on. I also had an Xbox 360 then so the gaps in the Wii U’s releases were mitigated by that.
I do wonder what it would have been like if I’d only had the Wii U, if I would have spent more time with the games I had rather than looking around for other games (a bit like when I was a kid when games were something you pretty much only got for birthdays and Xmas). I have just set it up again for my son to play Minecraft so it’ll be getting some use after a break. Think I might finally have a go at NES Remix 2…
Re: Best Wii U Games
Nice list. I’m only missing 5 of them (Child of Light, Shantae and the pirate’s curse, Affordable Space Adventures, Project Zero and Guacamelee (which I have on Switch).
Re: Feature: Wii U Memories - Our Pre-Launch Thoughts On Nintendo's Charming Misstep
@Herna you see I had the opposite experience. I’d only gotten an XBox 360 in 2012 (the Wii had been my main console before that) and compared to that the Wii U was so clunky. Don’t get me wrong, I threw myself in with great enthusiasm to collecting and playing the Wii U but something about it was just..off?
In theory it was better than the 360 (it should be being 7 years younger) but it was so slow compared to the Xbox and didn’t really wow in the way it probably should have. By then 360 games were very cheap as well and it was still getting plenty of next gen games (Alien Isolation and Transformers Devastation for example) that you just couldn’t get on the Wii U.
Having said that I had fun with it playing BOTW, Mario 3D World and even Star Fox Zero. Multiplayer was ace as well, especially Nintendoland in 5 player.
Re: Feature: Wii U Vs. Switch - How Did Those Nintendo Hardware Reveal Trailers Compare?
I heavily supported the Wii U from 2014 onwards. I loved the Wii and thought ‘more of the same but in HD!’
I knew something was off when I got it set up and couldn’t connect to the internet. It took me well over an hour, right next to the router (with every other device working fine including my Wii that was standing next to it).
I eventually got it to work by quite literally taking the IP address and other information from my iPad and entering that in the system settings (I told a more tech minded friend that I did this and his only reply down the phone was ‘…that shouldn’t work…’). After a few hours of it working the Wii U seemed to figure out that I wanted to go online and sorted itself out and I’ve never had a problem since. However it definitely meant I got off to a bad start with the machine that has lasted to this day…
Re: Talking Point: Which Scary Video Game Moments Gave You Nightmares As A Kid?
@Ganner nothing weird about being scared of Sharptooth; he scared me when I saw that film in the cinema for the first time too!
Re: Talking Point: Which Scary Video Game Moments Gave You Nightmares As A Kid?
@DudeshootMankill I’m also old and pretty grumpy too! RE4 remains one of the greatest games of all time (I’ve lost track of the times I’ve completed it on various systems since 2005). Ordinarily I’d be very wary of remakes (Hollywood is notoriously terrible at them) but occasionally there are ones which work so well they surpass the original whilst staying true to what made it brilliant in the first place. Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 remakes are the bench mark for remake/updates done right. Both kept what was so good about the originals but brought the games kicking and screaming into the modern age. Of course the remake of 3 (which I did enjoy) highlighted some of the weaknesses of the original (it was always too short).
As an aside there is also something to be said for going another way; add a new sheen of polish and just tweak things that are a bit anachronistic today. The anniversary edition of Halo CE on 360/Xbox One/Series is a good example, especially with the ability to instantly switch seamlessly between the original graphics and the newer HD update. Ocarina of Time on the 3DS is another good example of a modern update that keeps nearly everything the same to the original but with some optional tweaks for a new audience (I’d love to get that and the update of Majora’s Mask on the Switch in HD).
Re: Talking Point: Which Scary Video Game Moments Gave You Nightmares As A Kid?
As a kid there were a few games that freaked me out:
Alien 3 on Mega Drive - if I ran out of time without saving all the prisoners on a state I would turn off the system rather than watching the aliens burst at out of their chests.
Doom - the 2 Barons of Hell you face at the end of the first episode (which we nearly all had as free Shareware).
To be honest games never scared me much, films were much creepier. However, in terms of modern games Alien Isolation has to be one of the scariest games I’ve played and despite being a Resident Evil fan since number 2 I can’t get into RE7. Looking forward to trying the third person view on 8 though and of course the remake of 4 (please oh please let it be as good as the remake of 2!!!)
Re: Soapbox: After 10 Years I'm Finally Getting A Wii U, But Where Should I Start?
I heavily supported the Wii U from late 2014. I have nearly 100 physical games and many digital games and have only recently retired it from my setup to make room for newer consoles. Here are my 2 cents:
Pros:
Some great games (though many have superior Switch releases). However the costs of Wii U versions are about half the price of Switch games in my experience.
Some descent exclusives still: Game and Wario, Zelda Windwaker and Twilight Princess HD, Tank,Tank ,Tank!, Zombie U Deus Ex (both are superior with Gamepad integration).
Good selection of retro games, including Game Boy Advance games, on eshop. Good use of save states and off tv play for these.
Pro controller is very good with a long battery life.
Easy to expand storage with memory sticks or external hard drive (though you will either need one with a Y power cable or external power source).
Cons:
Slow operating system, to the extent that it’s unbelievable that the Xbox 360 (which was similar in power and 7 years older leaves it in the dust).
Poor battery life on Gamepad. The expanded battery is very good but probably near impossible to find now.
You cannot change system settings without the gamepad. Although the pro controller can replace the gamepad for nearly everything else without the gamepad you can’t change system settings.
Wii shop retro game selection is far superior. However, I have a hacked Wii and as far as I know it is possible to do the same hack on the Wii mode on a Wii U so the same is achievable. I’ve read that the WiiU itself is fairly hackable but I only have one console so won’t risk it (whereas Wiis are cheap to get hold of so if I brick one a replacement is easy to find).
Re: The N64 Encyclopedia Offers Nintendo Fans An Exhaustive Overview Of The 64-Bit Era
I own several of Chris’ encyclopaedias (NES, SNES, Mega Drive and the N64 one). I highly recommend all of them. I believe his next one is on the Dreamcast…
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
@Alaninho I agree with lot what you are saying about the game. It is a game that doesn’t really have a clear message other than morality is generally a grey area or for us to look at the decisions we make playing games. That may be one of its biggest problems as the other Bioshocks were far clearer in their ideas of good and bad.
I suppose the inevitability of the player’s actions always turning out destructive and wrong fitted in nicely with its ideas of fatalism. Having said that the multi-dimension aspect of the game implies that here is at least one world where the Vox are genuinely good, but it is not the world we partake in, which is far more ‘pay evil unto evil’. By that measure there is a world where Booker never gives Elizabeth/Anna up or where Comstock is not an evil bigot, but then that would not really have been much of a story.
I think one interesting inversion the game plays with is that it starts out by hinting that there is a similar morality choice that will determine the outcome by your actions just like in the original game (i.e. to harvest or spare the Little Sisters). You have the choice to humiliate the couple on stage or to refuse to do so. In the end this makes no difference whatsoever, other than the fact that they will later thank you for your kindness if you find them. Your actions don’t change Booker’s fate in the slightest, nor offer any sort of redemption. It’s kindness for kindness sake but doesn’t change the fact that Booker has done some terrible things in his life. Ultimately he is answerable to no one but Elizabeth and himself and chooses death in order to try to make up for what he/Comstock has done. There is no punishment or reward, no legal or divine judgement. ‘No gods or kings. Only man’.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
@Alaninho the Vox turning out to be just as ruthless Comstock’s side as the city tears itself apart did seem to be scarily accurate to certain events in the history of revolution, especially the idea that once noble ideals can easily be crushed under anger, greed and a desire for revenge. I’m really surprised that more people were not upset by the obvious discrimination aimed at other groups thought the game.
It did turn on its head the idea that your character is a saviour, as really you are no better than anyone else in the game. You’re only redeeming feature is your attempt to save Elizabeth (which starts off entirely mercenary in nature and only becomes more noble as the game progresses). This leads to accepting that you must die in order to save everyone else, hence ‘redemption equals death’. It is an uncomfortable game to play in terms of its morality but that has been a feature of all Bioshock games. Mechanically though it is a good game.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
@Zilock the dlc further fleshes out Fitzroy’s story. We can see that she is being played by the Lutces and is deeply conflicted about her actions and role in the uprising. I believe that there is an audiolog where she specifically talks about how she can see how her actions are getting too extreme but are still necessary but she is unsure. She is far more complex a character than is portrayed in the vanilla game.
I only remember this because Infinite is the last game I completed. Honestly, I still prefer Bioshock 2!
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
@Wexter I agree with you. I think another issue it dealt with was moral hypocrisy; several characters claim to have the moral high ground throughout but we see it all as a sham as we go through the game.
I’m guessing what Kate might be alluding to (but I could be wrong) is the horrible way American Indians/First People are depicted throughout Columbia. As players we rightly think ‘well that’s awful; even if it was possibly the majority view back then, racism is always wrong’, only to find that not only are we playing as a character who was guilty of massacring entire groups of people at the mere suggestion that he is related to them but that his actions are praised in universe. Booker is the embodiment of the ‘redemption equals death’ trope as he is in no way a good man. He’s very different from Jack in Bioshock (who was largely an unwitting pawn in someone else’s game) or the Big Daddy in Bioshock 2 (who is as much a victim as the Little Sisters), Booker is a man who has committed terrible acts and is on his last chance to redeem himself in some small way (‘bring us the girl and the dept is paid’). Whether that is even possible is left unanswered. The juxtaposition with the overt fundamentalist religious elements (which are exposed as entirely corrupt) is also interesting as well.
I should say I do think it is a good game (it plays well, looks great and provides a decent challenge) but it does tell an uncomfortable story, which isn’t always coherent, so it is far from perfect.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
I’ve just recently completed Bioshock Infinite again, this time with the DLC (I last played it on Xbox 360) and my take on it was that unlike Bioshock 1 and 2, in which you had full control over your character’s outcome of being good or bad, Infinite is far more morally gray. Yes, there were some very uncomfortable views expressed by characters throughout, but given the time period it was set in that was unfortunately not uncommon. The fact that there aren’t really any ‘good’ people in it was uncomfortably realistic; the dlc very much helps to show just how morally conflicted many characters are. Booker is only the nominal hero, having done extraordinarily bad things in the past, Elizabeth is consumed by revenge and needs to redeem herself only after her powers have driven her to do some very dark things.
I’m not sure quite what the writers were going for to be honest but my take was that there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people in the world; there are people who do good and bad acts. How much we choose to allow these to define ourselves and others is ultimately up to us. It’s actually quite an existentialist point of view, though ironically we may be ‘condemned to be free’ it is also a game that strongly suggests there is no freedom to our choices (‘there’s always a man and there’s always a lighthouse’).
Re: Footage Of Perfect Dark's Cut Feature 'Perfect Head' Emerges Online
I remember that at the time my friend group were quite disappointed that they dropped the feature. We were looking forward to running round as ourselves in the game.
<insert obligatory chuckle about the name of the feature, complete with Roger Moore style raised eyebrow>
Re: GoldenEye 007 Is Returning To Nintendo Switch
I really hope this is a stand alone purchase, not simply added to the online subscription. I have access to plenty of N64 games (Pokemon Stadium 2 is interesting for my kids but I still have my old cart of the first game).
If it’s coming to XBox I might get it on ther though; with Rare Replay I already have Banjo Kazooie, Banjo Tooie and Perfect Dark sonic would make sense to have Goldeneye on their too.
Still, 16 year old me would have loved to have been able to play Goldeneye on the go…
Re: Nintendo Switch Is More Profitable Than Vinyl, CDs, And DVDs In The UK
It’s interesting but I think we might be seeing a bit of a push back against digital sales in some ways. Yes, there is the convenience and space saving aspect of digital libraries but with worries around digital rights, shows being taken off of Netflix etc more people might be returning to actually ‘owning’ media. Even space for physical games isn’t too bad with a bit of work; all my disc based games are in a large wallet with the boxes stored in my loft. My entire games collection resides in two ikea boxes for carts and cd wallets for games. Hundreds of games on one shelf. Same with a lot of my CDs and most DVDs (though I keep my oldest ones on two tall towers in my room). Yes, they may eventually stop working but until they do they are there to enjoy whenever I want, not at the whim of some online company.
Re: Switch, Xbox, PS5 Power Consumption Comparison - How Energy-Efficient Is Nintendo Switch?
Now maths may not be my strong point but if the Switch OLED costs 2p (0.02p) an hour to run then 2 hours per day would be 4p (0.04p) and therefore 2 hours per day per week would be 28p (7x4p) with 5 hours a day being 10p per day times 7 so 70p a week (or half this for the regular Switch so 14p a week 2 hours per day or 35p a week 5 hours a day).
Likewise if the PS5 costs 10p an hour to run then 2 hours a day (20p) times 7 days is £1.40 not £1.43, with it costing 50p a day for 5 hours so £3.50 a week.
Either way, the Switch is far cheaper to run. In fact a regular Switch is 10 times cheaper to run for 5 hours a day than a PS5. Insane!
Re: PSA: Sega Mega Drive Mini 2 Is Now Available To Pre-Order In The UK
As much as I’d love it (as the Mega Drive 2 was my first console and it’s still working to this day) I’m not getting this:
1) £105? The last one was £80, which wasn’t bad considering it came with 2 controllers. However the escalation in price for mini consoles kind of defeats the ‘novelty item price’ idea (the NES mini was £50 which is just at that level of ‘oh, go on then!’).
2) A switch not a power button? It’s petty but that’s not what the PAL MD 2 had. Considering the level of authenticity they went with on the first model (down to removable parts and movable volume control) this is a bit of a let down.
3) No adapter? Well, the first model didn’t come with one either, just a USB cable to plug into your tv. Not a deal breaker but at that price?
Pity, for £80 I probably would have got it for pure nostalgia…
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Mario Kart Game?
@Grim I’m surprised about Double Dash, it feels very much like a more refined version of 64 to me (it is my favourite though so I am biased). In terms of battle mode though, 64 was the favourite until my friend and I discovered Shine Thief on Double Dash after ignoring it for years. That’s now my favourite.
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Mario Kart Game?
@Magrane I thank you Sir!
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Mario Kart Game?
Although I’d messed around with the original SNES game on shops I was a Mega Drive kid in the early 90s. My first true experience was Mario Kart 64. One of my close friends had the game and it became a staple of our Friday/Saturday night 4 player N64 sessions along with Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. He was always king of the game (he won a whole school Mario Kart competition despite not yet owning the game the previous year, something he’s still proud of nearly 25 years later!).
However, my first true Mario Kart was Double Dash!! and it remains my favourite by far. It just FEELS right, the physics are spot on and it is bright and colourful. I find the later games, especially 8, have too much going on in the background to distract me from racing. Double Dash got it just right.
Plus also the fact that the very first time I played it was the same group of friends on New Year’s Eve 2004. I was massively hung over from going out the night before and felt rough as anything. Double Dash made me forget my headache and I love it to this day.
Oh and I can beat my friend on it just like he still kicks my backside on Mario Kart 64!
Re: Nintendo Switch Worldwide Software Sales Update (CESA 2022) - Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Pokémon, Zelda & More
@BTB20 my bad; I didn’t check handheld sales. Still, as it stand Mario Kart has only been the top seller of this generation (if you count the Wii U and Switch as the same gen, but I don’t want to get into a debate about that!)
Re: Nintendo Switch Worldwide Software Sales Update (CESA 2022) - Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Pokémon, Zelda & More
@Dilly-Mick Mario Kart is always a solid seller on systems, but not the best seller. I’ve just checked; it is the top seller on Wii U and Switch (which is the same game anyway) but Wii was Wii Sports, GameCube was Smash Bros Melee, N64 was Super Mario 64 and SNES was Super Mario World. That’s why I’m surprised that it is the top seller on Switch as it has usually been top 5 but not first.
I agree with you about Animal Crossing and the pandemic; it was heavily advertised in the UK at the time.
Re: Wii U Receives Its First System Update Of 2022, Here's What's Included
My Wii U has been set up ever since I got it in late 2014 but I’ve made the decision that it’s time to retire it. I supported it and have about 80 physical games for it, but between the Switch, Xbox One and modded Wii it doesn’t get a look in anymore. Hopefully at some point I’ll track down a cheap back up console to mod like the Wii but for now it’s time it took its place on my shelf with all my other old consoles, ready to be set up again if I ever get the urge.
Re: Nintendo Switch Worldwide Software Sales Update (CESA 2022) - Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Pokémon, Zelda & More
Most impressive (for me at least) is that Pokemon has been outsold by Mario Kart and Animal Crossing (!). The shear number of titles selling not just over a million copies (a success) but tens of millions (run away success) is truly staggering. I’ve got a feeling the Switch is going to be the Game Boy of this generation; selling consistently well past its technological prime simply due to convenience, price point and huge variety of games on offer.
Re: Review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection - The New Gold Standard For Retro Compilations
I remember being blown away by the original arcade games as a kid. I loved the ports of NES Turtles 1&2 on my Spectrum (despite the drawbacks on the weaker system) and had fun the one time I played Turtles in Time on a SNES in a shop (though as a Mega Drive owner I was hesitant to get too attached to a SNES game…)
Re: Best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Games On Nintendo Systems
‘Shedder’s Revenge is the best Turtles beat ‘em up ever made!’
Comes in second place behind Turtles in Time 🤣
Re: Talking Point: What Was Your First Legend Of Zelda Game?
Although I knew of Zelda from the hilariously bad 80s cartoon (‘well excuuuuuuse me, Princess!’) and playing the odd bit of the original game on a friend’s NES and another friend’s copy of the old Zelda Game & Watch, my first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, leant to me by someone from school. I was hooked! It was only many years later having played through most of the older games that I realised how much Zelda lore in built into the game but to me it all felt 100% new at the time. I eventually bought my own copy and gave played it through multiple times since.
Funnily enough the very first (and only game) I have ever pre-ordered was Majora’s Mask back in 2000 from an up and coming website called Amazon…
Re: Random: We've Been Waiting Over Half A Decade For A "New" Mainline Zelda Game
Funny, because at the time Link’s Awakening was considered a spin off, not a mainline Zelda game (it is missing many of the series staples and was a handheld game). In fact I believe it was even called Zelda Gaiden in Japan at one point.
I remember as my first Zelda was Ocarina of Time (I was a SEGA kid in the early 90s) and the hype was massive, as to many the last true Zelda was Link to the Past (Sept 92) with OOT delayed (December 98). I remember it was a really big deal at the time that OOT was not only the first 3D Zelda but also the first console Zelda in over 6 years.
Re: Talking Point: How Were You Introduced To Metroid?
Metroid Prime. As a SEGA kid in the 90sI knew nothing about Metroid, other than seeing Samus in Smash Bros when I got an N64 in ‘98. I played Prime at a display in a store and loved the scanning mechanic. I saw more of it on a friend’s GameCube at university a few months before I bought my own and it looked fantastic. Finally got my own copy a year later and really enjoyed it. However I had a very strange relationship with the game: a number of times I reached the final boss, died and just never came back to finish the job! It was years before I finally sat down and beat it fully, first on my Wii U through the Trilogy release on Wii and then finally last year I returned to it on the Cube and beat. Very satisfying after 15 years!
Re: DOOM Eternal Standard, Steelbook, Special & Ultimate Physical Switch Editions Revealed
Look, I love my Switch as much as the next person but this is a bit much, isn’t it? I understand if it’s you’re only console but for me I played Doom Eternal day 1 on Gamepass, then less than a year later got it new sealed for £5, and then got the DLC on sale for £6. £11 for a much better version of the same game (and I do have Doom 2016 on my Switch and it runs really well considering the limited specs of the system.)
£60 for a vanilla version of an inferior (though no doubt still impressive) port? £180 for a load of tat (and still no DLC, which is about 2/3 the length of the campaign on its own)? Limited run are laughing all the way to the bank…
Re: Here's How Sonic 3's New Music In Sonic Origins Stacks Up To The Classics
I was on the fence about this, thinking surely it can’t be that bad but those tracks are terrible compared to the originals! Plus the remastered versions sound even worse, really muddy. Glad I’ve got Sonic 3 on various compilations already.
Re: Reminder: Street Fighter II Free For A Limited Time In Capcom Arcade Stadium
I was looking to get Street Fighter for my son on his Switch. This was welcome news as now it’s not cost me a penny!
Re: Jun Senoue To Adapt Some Of Sonic 3's Music For Sonic Origins
Such a pity. I guess I’ll have to just play the game with the og soundtrack on the Mega Drive cart, Sonic Mega Collection (NGC), Sonic Mega Collection plus (Xbox/PS2/PC), Sonic Classic collection (DS), Wii Virtual Console, Xbox live (Xbox 360/Xbox one) 🤣
In all seriousness it’s a bit of a shame but not the biggest problem out there.
Re: SEGA Announces The Mega Drive Mini 2, Boasting 50 Games
I’ll be picking this up if it comes out in the UK. The first was a great companion piece to the SNES mini (and I was a SEGA kid growing up so was even more welcome). However, I grew up with the Mega Drive 2 so it’ll be great to have a mini of the console that started it all for me. The fact that it will have Mega CD games which were well outside of my budget growing up is a big selling point and I’d be happy if the rest of the games were a mixture of 32X (even if it was just Chaotix) and ‘filling in the gaps’ from the first mini (Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Streets of Rage 1 and 3, Golden Axe 2 and 3 etc) Possibky even some more of the classic Disney games; we got Castle and World of Illusion on the first mini, Quackshot and Aladdin would be great editions.
Re: Video: Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Official Movie Trailer Released
@HammerGalladeBro I know the bar isn’t exactly set high for video game films but Sonic is by far the best one I’ve ever seen. It’s not perfect, but it is solid and entertaining, so very much like the first Iron Man film. Sonic’s character is pleasant (a mixture of 90s ‘tide and childlike excitement; he comes across as endearing rather than annoying). Jim Carey is channeling his Ace Ventura days as Robotnik (and that’s a good thing; he’s hilarious in the role) and even Marsden’s long suffering sheriff is just dry enough that he works as a counterpoint to sonic (think Jon Arbuckle to Garfield in the comics). I took my then 6 year old son to see it in the cinema and he loved it and I was very amused (there are plenty of Easter eggs for long time Sonic fans). We have it on DVD and it has been revisiting more than once by both my kids, so that tells you something.
Re: Talking Point: 5 Reasons That Nintendo Switch Is Still A Hot Product
I think it’s a combination of being readily available, the brand name and its family appeal. Most people (especially parents) are casual users and will buy something familiar for their kids. I also know from my own little gamers at home that the Switch is well liked, with the PS reserved for FIFA. My son has very little interest in our Xbox, he’s far happier on the Switch/Wii U/3DS.
Re: GTA Trilogy Could Be This Year's 'Cyberpunk 2077' As Rockstar Is Flooded With Refund Requests
I’m not going to repeat the ‘don’t buy on day one’ mantra, as it is obvious enough and it’s something I don’t do as a rule, ever since pre-ordering Sonic 2 on Game Gear back in 1992 and it turning out to be significantly worse than the original (not the Mega Drive version, that’s ace!)
Actually I do feel really sorry for people who did get this day 1; with a brand new game you always run the risk of it not living up to the hype and being disappointed (see above), but with games as old as these, combined with some excellent remasters we have seen over the years (Halo Anniversary on Xbox 360 is a good example) you’d think it would be a safe bet to buy something like this even at full price for an updated shot of nostalgia. Sadly the complete lack of pride taken in ports like this undermines the simple pleasure of being able to revisit a bit of the past with some quality of life improvements. I’m glad I’ve still got the discs and my old PS2 to play them on, even if it is through RGB on a CRT to get a semi-decent picture out of the old
Re: Where To Pre-Order The Nintendo Switch Online Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Controllers
I can see the appeal of these pads for the different systems (as I like to play on original hardware where sensibly possible) but as someone who just got the rather lovely Pro controller and as the owner of several descent wired controllers these seem a bit limited in their use.
Sure, you could use the SNES or Mega Drive controller with NES games but you couldn't use the NES or MD controllers with SNES games, so aside from it being a bit strange, if you were to get any, then the SNES one is best for 8 bit and 16 bit games and the N64 one would handle all 4 retro games selections.
Or just get one Pro controller to handle all of them…
Re: Talking Point: How Many Hours Is A 'Short' Game For You?
There’s a massive difference between a game being ‘too short’ and ‘not outstaying its welcome’. I completed Metroid Zero Mission for the first time the other day in under 4hrs. Felt like the perfect length for a handheld game and I know I didn’t find all the items either, so there is replay value there.
I would take a short and sweet game over something go that drags on. Games like Breath of the Wild have found a good middle ground; sure some people put in 400+ hrs to explore fully, but I enjoyed the sub 100 hours I put into it before moving on.
Re: Poll: What Do You Think Of The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack Price?
I’ve been mulling this over for a few days and I’m trying to look at it from different angles:
I’m a veteran Nintendo/SEGA fan since the 80s so there is little incentive to upgrade (or tbh renew Switch Online). I have multiple ways of accessing most of the games offered by NSO, so it doesn’t seem like much value for me (other than the convenience offered by off tv/ handheld mode).
Having said that, at £35 a year (I think that’s right) that works out to about £2.90 a month, which (at least for me) isn’t very much. So actually there’s no real reason to worry so much about the higher price (which I don’t have to pay anyway).
However, if I was either a much younger player (who doesn’t have access NES, SNES, N64 and Mega Drive games already) it’s actually a decent price to pay for a huge amount of content. Likewise, if I had stopped playing games 20 years ago and as an adult played the Switch and had nostalgia for these games, it would be a very convenient and cost effective way of revisiting them, easily connected to modern tvs. Both types of people are probably not too invested in worrying about whether they can still play the games in the future when the service has ended, so don’t care about virtual console purchases; they’ll be happy to either move onto the next generation of machines or stop playing all together.
So really, it all seems to be about how much you personally will get out of it. I hardly touch the NES/SNES apps and when my kids play Switch it is usually for regular games; they can play older games on older systems, mini consoles or original hardware. For a (relatively) low cost I may get it just to have access but I may well not bother. I’ve not actually paid for online for the two years I’ve had a Switch as I got a year free with my Switch lite and another year in with Tetris 99.
Re: Random: PETA Wants Nintendo To Add A Gun-Toting Chicken To Smash Bros. Ultimate
Is this the same PETA that decried Pokemon games as being cruel to animals? How is having a chicken pummelled to within an inch of its life by a selection of Nintendo characters not the same?!?
Re: Random: This Tiny Game Boy Is Probably The World's Smallest Game Console
What is this?!? A Game Boy for ants?!?
Re: Feature: 30 Years Of Sonic The Hedgehog - The Many Faces Of Mario's Biggest Rival
Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic and Knuckles and the first Master System games are untouchable as far as I’m concerned. CD and Mania are very, very close and may well one day be on par with those games (familiarity with the older games and being less familiar with CD/Mania is the only thing separating them at the moment. I haven’t had the desire to put much effort into any other Sonic title, especially the more recent 3D games, as he just hasn’t translated as well as Mario, who remains great in both 2D and 3D (though could also be accused of a bit of over familiarity at times as well, but that’s no great crime).
Although I am a veteran of the playground 16 bit console wars many years later I see Sonic and Mario (and SNES and Mega Drive as well) less as competitors and both examples of equally excellent but quite different sources of entertainment. After all; I love pizza and burgers equally. Neither is ‘better’ that the other, it’s more about what you are in the mood for at the time. Either way, at their very best you are going to have a great time whether you play classic Sonic or classic Mario. We never realised just how lucky we were to have both…