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…
I was really lucky to be old enough to be able to buy my Cube myself back in 2003. I already had the PS2 and being able to 2 current gen consoles simultaneously was brilliant. Though the PS2 got more use, the excellent exclusives I played and still own on the Cube left the most lasting impressions. The graphics wiped the floor with the PS2 (only Halo on my friend’s Xbox out did it) and the controller, though mocked at the time, is in hindsight almost perfect (I still use a wavebird as my go to controller for VC games on the Wii). Add the Gameboy Player and GBA connectivity and you have a unique little system that has stood the test of time. It’s first party games still look excellent today as well as a few second and third party ones.
The cube was the first system I bought entirely with my own money (previous consoles were gifts from my parents). 2003 and I got it for £70 secondhand along with Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker, along with the Ocarina of Time and Master Quest bonus disc.
Truth be told, whilst the console was relevant until I got my Wii in 2009 I only actually owned about 10 games, but they were all great, especially for multiplayer.
These days I have close to 100 games and there are still one or two I’d love to get hold of (TTYD anyone?)
@Wavey84 I’ve been playing a few on the old Wii Virtual Console recently (Super Mario Bros.3, Paper Mario, Streets of Rage 2) on a crt through RGB SCART and it looks great, even set to widescreen. My son has started Paper Mario on Wii U (save states make it a bit easier for him) and the picture is so dark next to the Wii version!
@Wavey84 I recently upgraded to a widescreen 28 inch crt tv. I’m thinking of running the mini consoles into it with an HDMI to SCART converter I’ve got. Should look pretty authentic!
I love Game Boy but I can’t see myself booting this up more than once for the novelty of playing some of these on the TV. Tbh I’ve got the original carts for most big games from back in the day, plus a Game Boy player on GameCube, PLUS. I bought a lot in 3DS (save states yay!).
It’s going to be great for youngsters to experience these games themselves without tracking down expensive carts, but not really much reason to keep my subscription to the online. With Wii Virtual Console, Wii U eshop ,NES and SNES minis I got a lot of that out of my system years ago.
Now add GBA and GameCube (Thousand Year Door anyone?) and I’d stick around…
Nuts! I’ve got Jedi Outcast and Episode 1 racer already. Pity it wasn’t Academy and Commando on one cart instead (but the combos make sense the way they’ve been done).
Although there are tons of great games on GB I’m fairly sure we won’t get two of the most important titles: Tetris and Pokemon Red/Blue, which pretty much were the killer apps that bookended the og Game Boy’s run. I have both on cart and 3DS anyway but without them it’s not really the full experience…
As I was born in the early 80s I must have played Super Mario Bros on NES at least once at a display stand in a shop. My friend had a Game Boy and I remember playing Tetris, Super Mario Land, Double Dragon and Fortress of Fear.
I’m terms of owning a Nintendo game, my little sister got a Game Boy (I already had a Game Gear) and her first games were Tetris and Super Mario Land, so naturally I got to play them too. However, my first Nintendo system of my own was a Game Boy in 1996 that came with Killer Instinct and Star Wars.
I didn’t actually get my first Nintendo console until 1998, which was an N64 with Star Wars Shadows of the Empire. Before that I was strictly a SEGA kid!
It’ll most likely overtake the Wii. The fact that it has already surpassed the classic trio of NES, SNES and N64 is already impressive enough, given the lasting cultural impacts of those systems. Not sure it’ll make the Game Boy, but considering the GB line ran for over 10 years it does have plenty of time to catch up.
As a kid my friends and I thought he was yelling ‘grab the car’! We thought it must be a hang over from his days as a cop, which probably made sense to a 10 year old at the time…
I’ve got a couple of the bluetooth 8bitdo SN30+ controllers (both free with a magazine subscription) but they only work in tabletop mode. Am I missing a trick when the Switch is docked or does it totally disable the bluetooth? I mainly use a wired Power A controller (like the Pro controller but without all the bells and whistles and a tiny fraction of the price) but it would be great to use the Bluetooth controllers for extra players.
@Kilamanjaro my bad, I didn’t read your comment thoroughly enough 😁. Yeah, 3DS prices are nuts at the moment (I watched the NintendoLife video last night). In the UK Argos is selling off a few titles cheap right now (Pokemon sun and moon, Layton’s mysteries, Animal Crossing happy home designer and develish brain training are all under £12). I made sure I took advantage of their selling off of old 3DS games in that last few years and as a result still have about 5 sealed games that I got all for under £10 (only sealed as I haven’t got around to playing them yet).
I do wonder if 3DS will end up like GameCube with very few games available in the future (unlike GameCube there isn’t a next gen system like the Wii to play 3DS games on). Plus the actual 3D is not likely to be repeated so it will become quite a niche system I think in the future.
@Kilamanjaro it’s not a loser system; I nearly always late adopt systems (or at least a good few years into the life of it) as the price of games drops massively.
The window to submit physical games for the Wii U was some time in 2020. As such the last releases were Finding Teddy 2, Shut’em up collection and I think Hotline Miami (which wasn’t released physically in Europe . The Wii shop lasted 12 years (2006-2018) so I’d hope Wii U/3DS would get a similar length but that would only be 2023 for 3DS (2011-2023) and 2024 for Wii U.
@DarkTron there’s two: the one with Link on loft wing with the emblem in the bottom right corner was 0 platinum points when I got it within the last hour.
I’ve got each game on GameCube/Wii disc, as well as the Trilogy digitally on Wii U but I would consider getting it on Switch to be able to play at 1080p, with the option to swap between the motion control and regular controls on a whim.
Pulling the Master Sword from its pedestal in the Temple of Time in OoT. Flash forward to adult link and a bad future Hyrule. Childhood innocence gone, time to bring the pain to Ganondorf!
@moodycat I’ve played through Revelations 1 on 3DS and Wii U and it’s a really good game. It has more in common with the games from 4 onwards rather than classic Resi, but with the release of the remakes of 2 and 3 it fits I very nicely with the style of these games. Only played the first (free) chapter of revelations 2, but what I played was fun but not on the same level as the first (backgrounds are really muddy looking).
I played through 5 on the Xbox 360 solo and I found it perfectly playable (silly but playable). 6 was terrible on 360 but I got the Xbox one version for pennies and the upgrade was worth it. Again, a daft game but fun for what it was!
@technotreegrass I bought a regular switch about 3 days before the whole world was convinced that Nintendo was going to announce a pro model this year. So I kept it in the box (much to my son’s disappointment) just so I could return it for a refund to put toward the pro. Surprise, surprise no announcement! Glad I didn’t bother waiting; £227 for the regular model, not worth the extra £83 for these upgrades tbh (though if you play mainly handheld I guess it might be worth it).
@chapu2006 my V2 Switch is only a couple of months old and mainly gets used docked but my Lite (which has the improved battery the same as the V2) lasts longer than 2 hours.
Gone are the days of 15+ hours on a Game Boy; battery life on modern handhelds reminds me of my Game Gear from 1991!
@sanderev good for you (and there is no sarcasm intended in that). It’s good that people who play handheld get a boost (especially if you have a 2017 model as you get the better battery as well) but it’s a pity they couldn’t push for 1080p handheld as well plus Bluetooth connectivity. Then it would arguably be the perfect handheld device. Not much in this for those of us who enjoy docked mode more though (and I have a lite too which is even better as a portable).
Just realised it’s still only 720p handheld and will be $50 (and I’m guessing £50) more. I bought a regular switch a month or so ago and got £50 off in vouchers. I would not pay £100 over what I spent for these limited upgrades (but then no one is asking me to). I wonder if they will phase out the OG model like they did with the 3DS?
Whilst this is great if you predominantly play in tabletop or handheld mode (the bigger brighter screen, a better kickstand) I don’t see much in this for someone who use it on a TV:
64gb of internal storage- nice, but irrelevant if you have a micro sd card, which I’m guessing most of us do.
LAN port on the dock - nice, but usb adaptors like the Wii model cost next to nothing and can be used with the existing dock.
Not any faster or more powerful than the last version of the regular switch - not really a ‘pro’ model then.
Plus apart from the bigger screen and OLED (again, nice) the kickstand can easily be replicated by buying any of the third party or licences stands for very little. In fact, aside from the tabletop mode (which was present on the regular switch) and the screen, I can’t see how this is better suited than a switch lite if you mainly play handheld. I’m lucky enough to have a lite and only recently got a regular model as my son is really into the Switch, but I can’t see this replacing either.
Sorry to be so negative and I will admit that if this was my first switch these enhancements would be a welcome edition but it’s more ‘New 3DS’ over ‘old 3DS’ rather than ‘Xbox One to Xbox One X’; nice upgrade but not really worth it unless you really, really need it (and I say that as someone who went 2DS - 3DSXL - New 3DS; it’s a lovely bit of kit but I kind of wish I’d stuck with the 2DS tbh).
Once again demonstrating the confusion between ‘monetary value’ and ‘personal value’. Something can have enormous personal value (you wouldn’t part with it for any amount of money) but is worth very little at resale and something else can have great financial value (where you could sell something for a princely sum) but have absolutely no personal connection to it whatsoever. It might be hard to grasp, but not everyone values your possessions the same way you do.
I know that to most people here this blatantly obvious but some people don’t seem to be able to grasp such a simple difference…
@Ganner way ahead of you 😀 those just happen to be some of my favourite films. She’s watched them, but isn’t too keen on horror films. I’m not convinced that she’s really watched the Terminator films (she says she ‘watched them on vhs when she was a kid’) but they have a strong female lead in Sarah Connor too.
Ripley is a brilliant heroine, but part of why she works is that (in the original at least) she wasn’t written to be specifically female (all roles were stipulated to be either in the script, it’s only in casting that Ripley was a woman). So the script misses out on a lot of typical stereotypical behaviour (though Lambert, the female navigator, is supposed to be the audience surrogate and falls into the screaming woman role). The brilliance of the film, that is lost now, is that Sigourney Weaver was an unknown; Tom Skeritt was probably the most famous star in the US, with John Hurt famous in the UK. No one expected Ripley to live, so when the Captain dies halfway through it was shock. Again, it wasn’t unusual for there to be a line female survivor, but they were usually saved or left traumatised. Ripley instead, despite her fear (which is entirely realistic) defeats the Alien herself. She is (IMO) one of the best, if not the best, female hero in film. Ultimate badass!
@Moistnado they’re not my favourite either, but I see the impact they have had on both my wife and daughter. Seeing them so excited to have someone on screen that they can identify with makes me reflect on how lucky that there are so many characters I can relate to as a man. I’d like more people to get to have that feeling too, in any form of media (after all, there’s enough to go round for everyone to have their own heroes).
I love Metroid too, though I have to confess that I have the nasty habit of getting to the last boss and quitting! Finally rectified that during lockdown by going back and finishing Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime.
I’m all for inclusion and representation in video games; not for any particular political reason (in general I’d like to live in a world where we can all be happy) but more so because anything that helps a player immerse themselves fully in a game, enjoy it more or allow it to attract the widest audience possible is a good thing. As someone who was a similar age to the author, I remember my younger sister enjoying playing as Blaze in the Streets of Rage games and Chun Li in Street Fighter but as I’m getting older I realise that more female characters (say an equal balance between male and female) would have been even better for her. In fact, now that I think about it, the original SOR was actually quite diverse for a game from 1991, it was very rare to have a black player character like Adam in any game from that time.
As a father of a boy and a girl I’d love for my younger daughter to have more options if she chooses to play more games as she gets older. I still can’t see why we cannot have Peach as a playable character in a mainline Mario title (I’m aware of 3D World and Super Princess Peach). How hard would it be to include a campaign where choosing Mario would have Peach kidnapped but choosing Peach would have Mario captured? Surely it would not be a huge stretch to program and as you would not be forced to make either decision, no knuckle draggers could complain ‘wHy Do I hAvE tO pLaY aS A gIrL?!’
I really realised this when I took my wife to see Captain Marvel. She’s a fan of the MCU but for her this was the film that she felt really spoke to her. She’s not blind to some of the criticism aimed at the film (much of which I feel is misaimed anyway)but she felt that she had finally seen a film where a female hero kicks butt and offers no compromise, which to me is very similar to Metroid. Seeing her nerding out they way that I have done to some if the other male heroes made me realise that there does need to be more characters for women and girls to look up to. Even the new Star Wars films, which are not a patch on the originals, get a big thumbs up from me for giving my little girl a hero to look up to in Rey. What does a 5 year old care about story or character development; I never did when I watched Arnold taking out rooms full of baddies as a a kid, my daughter just sees a badass female Jedi swing a lightsaber!
@Splodge the interface is slow (but still faster than my Xbox 360). Tbh, my only complaint with the Wii U is that you can’t change the system settings on the screen but only on the gamepad. Why they didn’t change that so that you can do it with the pro controller is beyond me, though I suppose it would mean that a lot of gamepads would be banished to a box forever. Though thinking about it, it wouldn’t be the first peripheral/ Trojan gimmick they’ve abandoned after a while (Rob the Robot anyone?)
I just wish I could get a real Powerbase converter model 2 for my Mega Drive 2. Had one as a kid but must have given it away. The second model was only released in Europe and goes for silly money now….
@RadioShadow unless you have the same account registered on a Switch. Add the funds on your Switch eshop account and they will appear on your Wii U eshop account too. That’s how I do it to get around the fact you can’t use cards on the Wii U/3DS anymore.
Sonic 1, 2, 3, S&K on the MD and Sonic 1 on the Master System/Game Gear are gaming gold. These are all great games in their own right and culturally were massively impactful in the early 90s. The fierce competition between Nintendo and SEGA was great for fans as they constantly pushed each other to out do the other. I was (like many people in the UK) firmly in the SEGA camp and I love revisiting these games 30 years later. So do my young children and if that doesn’t make them timeless I don’t know what does.
This was the first console where for me games went from arcade driven distractions on the Mega Drive to full stories that made me feel invested in the world. Mario 64 and Goldeneye were terrific but for me Ocarina of Time took storytelling in video games to a whole new level.
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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…
Re: Anniversary: Goodness Me, Is The GameCube Really 20 Years Old?
I was really lucky to be old enough to be able to buy my Cube myself back in 2003. I already had the PS2 and being able to 2 current gen consoles simultaneously was brilliant. Though the PS2 got more use, the excellent exclusives I played and still own on the Cube left the most lasting impressions. The graphics wiped the floor with the PS2 (only Halo on my friend’s Xbox out did it) and the controller, though mocked at the time, is in hindsight almost perfect (I still use a wavebird as my go to controller for VC games on the Wii). Add the Gameboy Player and GBA connectivity and you have a unique little system that has stood the test of time. It’s first party games still look excellent today as well as a few second and third party ones.
Re: Nintendo Switch Base Model Price Officially Reduced To £259/€269 Across Europe
£20 off is better than nothing, I suppose. Glad I used some vouchers and got £50 off a while back though.
Re: Nintendo Celebrates 20 Years Of GameCube In New Smash Bros. Event
The cube was the first system I bought entirely with my own money (previous consoles were gifts from my parents). 2003 and I got it for £70 secondhand along with Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker, along with the Ocarina of Time and Master Quest bonus disc.
Truth be told, whilst the console was relevant until I got my Wii in 2009 I only actually owned about 10 games, but they were all great, especially for multiplayer.
These days I have close to 100 games and there are still one or two I’d love to get hold of (TTYD anyone?)
Re: Random: Check Out These Mock-Ups Of Game Boy For Nintendo Switch Online
@Wavey84 I’ve been playing a few on the old Wii Virtual Console recently (Super Mario Bros.3, Paper Mario, Streets of Rage 2) on a crt through RGB SCART and it looks great, even set to widescreen. My son has started Paper Mario on Wii U (save states make it a bit easier for him) and the picture is so dark next to the Wii version!
Re: Random: Check Out These Mock-Ups Of Game Boy For Nintendo Switch Online
@Wavey84 I recently upgraded to a widescreen 28 inch crt tv. I’m thinking of running the mini consoles into it with an HDMI to SCART converter I’ve got. Should look pretty authentic!
Re: Random: Check Out These Mock-Ups Of Game Boy For Nintendo Switch Online
I love Game Boy but I can’t see myself booting this up more than once for the novelty of playing some of these on the TV. Tbh I’ve got the original carts for most big games from back in the day, plus a Game Boy player on GameCube, PLUS. I bought a lot in 3DS (save states yay!).
It’s going to be great for youngsters to experience these games themselves without tracking down expensive carts, but not really much reason to keep my subscription to the online. With Wii Virtual Console, Wii U eshop ,NES and SNES minis I got a lot of that out of my system years ago.
Now add GBA and GameCube (Thousand Year Door anyone?) and I’d stick around…
Re: THQ Nordic Appears To Be Releasing Star Wars Double Packs
Nuts! I’ve got Jedi Outcast and Episode 1 racer already. Pity it wasn’t Academy and Commando on one cart instead (but the combos make sense the way they’ve been done).
Re: Rumour: Nintendo Will Expand Its Switch Online Service With Game Boy And Game Boy Color Titles
Although there are tons of great games on GB I’m fairly sure we won’t get two of the most important titles: Tetris and Pokemon Red/Blue, which pretty much were the killer apps that bookended the og Game Boy’s run. I have both on cart and 3DS anyway but without them it’s not really the full experience…
Re: It Looks Like Quake Is Getting Remastered, And It's Coming To Switch
Downloading now. I haven’t played the original since the mid 90s on PC (though I still have the cart of Quake 2 on N64).
Re: Community: What Was Your First Ever Nintendo Game?
As I was born in the early 80s I must have played Super Mario Bros on NES at least once at a display stand in a shop. My friend had a Game Boy and I remember playing Tetris, Super Mario Land, Double Dragon and Fortress of Fear.
I’m terms of owning a Nintendo game, my little sister got a Game Boy (I already had a Game Gear) and her first games were Tetris and Super Mario Land, so naturally I got to play them too. However, my first Nintendo system of my own was a Game Boy in 1996 that came with Killer Instinct and Star Wars.
I didn’t actually get my first Nintendo console until 1998, which was an N64 with Star Wars Shadows of the Empire. Before that I was strictly a SEGA kid!
Re: Memory Pak: The Exquisite Weirdness Of The Sims: Bustin' Out
I have this on GameCube but actually played it first on PS2. Great fun, but would be much better with a mouse to control it!
Re: Round Up: First "Hands-On" Impressions Of Valve's Steam Deck - How Does It Compare To Switch?
… so it’s a portable Wii U gamepad with internet connectivity. Got it.
Re: Switch Hardware Sales Reach 89 Million Despite Facing A Year-On-Year Slump
It’ll most likely overtake the Wii. The fact that it has already surpassed the classic trio of NES, SNES and N64 is already impressive enough, given the lasting cultural impacts of those systems. Not sure it’ll make the Game Boy, but considering the GB line ran for over 10 years it does have plenty of time to catch up.
Re: Random: We've Been Wrong About This Streets Of Rage Special Move For Almost 30 Years
As a kid my friends and I thought he was yelling ‘grab the car’! We thought it must be a hang over from his days as a cop, which probably made sense to a 10 year old at the time…
Re: Switch Online NES And SNES Controllers Are Back In Stock, NES Bundle 50% Off (Europe)
I’ve got a couple of the bluetooth 8bitdo SN30+ controllers (both free with a magazine subscription) but they only work in tabletop mode. Am I missing a trick when the Switch is docked or does it totally disable the bluetooth? I mainly use a wired Power A controller (like the Pro controller but without all the bells and whistles and a tiny fraction of the price) but it would be great to use the Bluetooth controllers for extra players.
Re: Random: An Eager 3DS StreetPass Fan Spent A Day In New York, Got Zero Hits
I loved taking my 2DS out and about in my bag and seeing that lovely, welcoming flashing green light when I got home.
Now I can only experience it by having my 2DS and New 3DS on at the same time 😐
Re: Rumour: Nintendo To End Submissions For New Wii U And 3DS eShop Games
@Kilamanjaro my bad, I didn’t read your comment thoroughly enough 😁. Yeah, 3DS prices are nuts at the moment (I watched the NintendoLife video last night). In the UK Argos is selling off a few titles cheap right now (Pokemon sun and moon, Layton’s mysteries, Animal Crossing happy home designer and develish brain training are all under £12). I made sure I took advantage of their selling off of old 3DS games in that last few years and as a result still have about 5 sealed games that I got all for under £10 (only sealed as I haven’t got around to playing them yet).
I do wonder if 3DS will end up like GameCube with very few games available in the future (unlike GameCube there isn’t a next gen system like the Wii to play 3DS games on). Plus the actual 3D is not likely to be repeated so it will become quite a niche system I think in the future.
Re: Rumour: Nintendo To End Submissions For New Wii U And 3DS eShop Games
@Kilamanjaro it’s not a loser system; I nearly always late adopt systems (or at least a good few years into the life of it) as the price of games drops massively.
Re: Rumour: Nintendo To End Submissions For New Wii U And 3DS eShop Games
The window to submit physical games for the Wii U was some time in 2020. As such the last releases were Finding Teddy 2, Shut’em up collection and I think Hotline Miami (which wasn’t released physically in Europe . The Wii shop lasted 12 years (2006-2018) so I’d hope Wii U/3DS would get a similar length but that would only be 2023 for 3DS (2011-2023) and 2024 for Wii U.
Re: My Nintendo Europe Is Giving Away Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Postcards - Just Pay Shipping
@Mark-number-12 it would be more interesting to see how many of those surrounding the current administration have read what Popper had to say.
‘How can we so organize political institutions that bad or incompetent rulers can be prevented from doing too much damage?’
We could really do with figuring out exactly that at the moment in the UK….
Re: My Nintendo Europe Is Giving Away Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Postcards - Just Pay Shipping
@DarkTron there’s two: the one with Link on loft wing with the emblem in the bottom right corner was 0 platinum points when I got it within the last hour.
Re: Random: A UK Company Is Inviting Customers To Smash Up Old Games Consoles
I suppose if it is actually all being recycled then why not, but as someone who takes good care of systems dating back to 1992… <shudders>
Re: My Nintendo Europe Is Giving Away Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Postcards - Just Pay Shipping
There is also a free HD wallpaper of Skyward Sword available. No platinum points needed at all!
Re: Rumour: Metroid Prime Trilogy For Switch Ready To Go, According To Industry Insider
I’ve got each game on GameCube/Wii disc, as well as the Trilogy digitally on Wii U but I would consider getting it on Switch to be able to play at 1080p, with the option to swap between the motion control and regular controls on a whim.
Re: Feature: Our Most Treasured Zelda Memories
Pulling the Master Sword from its pedestal in the Temple of Time in OoT. Flash forward to adult link and a bad future Hyrule. Childhood innocence gone, time to bring the pain to Ganondorf!
Re: Talking Point: Where Does The Switch OLED Announcement Leave The Rumoured Switch Pro?
It’s hot air. Any upgrades with be with the follow up system when the tech is more affordable.
Re: Nine Resident Evil Games Are Currently Discounted Across Switch And 3DS
@Pirate1 if you want pure horror then the original Resident Evil is best. For action Resident Evil 4 is superb.
Re: Nine Resident Evil Games Are Currently Discounted Across Switch And 3DS
@moodycat I’ve played through Revelations 1 on 3DS and Wii U and it’s a really good game. It has more in common with the games from 4 onwards rather than classic Resi, but with the release of the remakes of 2 and 3 it fits I very nicely with the style of these games. Only played the first (free) chapter of revelations 2, but what I played was fun but not on the same level as the first (backgrounds are really muddy looking).
I played through 5 on the Xbox 360 solo and I found it perfectly playable (silly but playable). 6 was terrible on 360 but I got the Xbox one version for pennies and the upgrade was worth it. Again, a daft game but fun for what it was!
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
@VenomousAlbino GAME is listing it at £310 I believe (might need to double check that).
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
@technotreegrass I bought a regular switch about 3 days before the whole world was convinced that Nintendo was going to announce a pro model this year. So I kept it in the box (much to my son’s disappointment) just so I could return it for a refund to put toward the pro. Surprise, surprise no announcement! Glad I didn’t bother waiting; £227 for the regular model, not worth the extra £83 for these upgrades tbh (though if you play mainly handheld I guess it might be worth it).
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
@chapu2006 my V2 Switch is only a couple of months old and mainly gets used docked but my Lite (which has the improved battery the same as the V2) lasts longer than 2 hours.
Gone are the days of 15+ hours on a Game Boy; battery life on modern handhelds reminds me of my Game Gear from 1991!
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
@sanderev good for you (and there is no sarcasm intended in that). It’s good that people who play handheld get a boost (especially if you have a 2017 model as you get the better battery as well) but it’s a pity they couldn’t push for 1080p handheld as well plus Bluetooth connectivity. Then it would arguably be the perfect handheld device. Not much in this for those of us who enjoy docked mode more though (and I have a lite too which is even better as a portable).
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
@chapu2006 isn’t it the same battery life as the V2 Switch and the Lite? I could be wrong…
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
Just realised it’s still only 720p handheld and will be $50 (and I’m guessing £50) more. I bought a regular switch a month or so ago and got £50 off in vouchers. I would not pay £100 over what I spent for these limited upgrades (but then no one is asking me to). I wonder if they will phase out the OG model like they did with the 3DS?
Re: After Months Of 'Switch Pro' Rumours, Nintendo Officially Unveils The Nintendo Switch OLED Model
Whilst this is great if you predominantly play in tabletop or handheld mode (the bigger brighter screen, a better kickstand) I don’t see much in this for someone who use it on a TV:
64gb of internal storage- nice, but irrelevant if you have a micro sd card, which I’m guessing most of us do.
LAN port on the dock - nice, but usb adaptors like the Wii model cost next to nothing and can be used with the existing dock.
Not any faster or more powerful than the last version of the regular switch - not really a ‘pro’ model then.
Plus apart from the bigger screen and OLED (again, nice) the kickstand can easily be replicated by buying any of the third party or licences stands for very little. In fact, aside from the tabletop mode (which was present on the regular switch) and the screen, I can’t see how this is better suited than a switch lite if you mainly play handheld. I’m lucky enough to have a lite and only recently got a regular model as my son is really into the Switch, but I can’t see this replacing either.
Sorry to be so negative and I will admit that if this was my first switch these enhancements would be a welcome edition but it’s more ‘New 3DS’ over ‘old 3DS’ rather than ‘Xbox One to Xbox One X’; nice upgrade but not really worth it unless you really, really need it (and I say that as someone who went 2DS - 3DSXL - New 3DS; it’s a lovely bit of kit but I kind of wish I’d stuck with the 2DS tbh).
Re: "King Pokémon" Attracts The Ire Of Fans Over Comments Regarding Famous Artist's Signature
Once again demonstrating the confusion between ‘monetary value’ and ‘personal value’. Something can have enormous personal value (you wouldn’t part with it for any amount of money) but is worth very little at resale and something else can have great financial value (where you could sell something for a princely sum) but have absolutely no personal connection to it whatsoever. It might be hard to grasp, but not everyone values your possessions the same way you do.
I know that to most people here this blatantly obvious but some people don’t seem to be able to grasp such a simple difference…
Re: Soapbox: Super Metroid Showed Me I Had The Right To Exist
@Ganner way ahead of you 😀 those just happen to be some of my favourite films. She’s watched them, but isn’t too keen on horror films. I’m not convinced that she’s really watched the Terminator films (she says she ‘watched them on vhs when she was a kid’) but they have a strong female lead in Sarah Connor too.
Ripley is a brilliant heroine, but part of why she works is that (in the original at least) she wasn’t written to be specifically female (all roles were stipulated to be either in the script, it’s only in casting that Ripley was a woman). So the script misses out on a lot of typical stereotypical behaviour (though Lambert, the female navigator, is supposed to be the audience surrogate and falls into the screaming woman role). The brilliance of the film, that is lost now, is that Sigourney Weaver was an unknown; Tom Skeritt was probably the most famous star in the US, with John Hurt famous in the UK. No one expected Ripley to live, so when the Captain dies halfway through it was shock. Again, it wasn’t unusual for there to be a line female survivor, but they were usually saved or left traumatised. Ripley instead, despite her fear (which is entirely realistic) defeats the Alien herself. She is (IMO) one of the best, if not the best, female hero in film. Ultimate badass!
Re: Soapbox: Super Metroid Showed Me I Had The Right To Exist
@Moistnado they’re not my favourite either, but I see the impact they have had on both my wife and daughter. Seeing them so excited to have someone on screen that they can identify with makes me reflect on how lucky that there are so many characters I can relate to as a man. I’d like more people to get to have that feeling too, in any form of media (after all, there’s enough to go round for everyone to have their own heroes).
I love Metroid too, though I have to confess that I have the nasty habit of getting to the last boss and quitting! Finally rectified that during lockdown by going back and finishing Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime.
Re: Soapbox: Super Metroid Showed Me I Had The Right To Exist
I’m all for inclusion and representation in video games; not for any particular political reason (in general I’d like to live in a world where we can all be happy) but more so because anything that helps a player immerse themselves fully in a game, enjoy it more or allow it to attract the widest audience possible is a good thing. As someone who was a similar age to the author, I remember my younger sister enjoying playing as Blaze in the Streets of Rage games and Chun Li in Street Fighter but as I’m getting older I realise that more female characters (say an equal balance between male and female) would have been even better for her. In fact, now that I think about it, the original SOR was actually quite diverse for a game from 1991, it was very rare to have a black player character like Adam in any game from that time.
As a father of a boy and a girl I’d love for my younger daughter to have more options if she chooses to play more games as she gets older. I still can’t see why we cannot have Peach as a playable character in a mainline Mario title (I’m aware of 3D World and Super Princess Peach). How hard would it be to include a campaign where choosing Mario would have Peach kidnapped but choosing Peach would have Mario captured? Surely it would not be a huge stretch to program and as you would not be forced to make either decision, no knuckle draggers could complain ‘wHy Do I hAvE tO pLaY aS A gIrL?!’
I really realised this when I took my wife to see Captain Marvel. She’s a fan of the MCU but for her this was the film that she felt really spoke to her. She’s not blind to some of the criticism aimed at the film (much of which I feel is misaimed anyway)but she felt that she had finally seen a film where a female hero kicks butt and offers no compromise, which to me is very similar to Metroid. Seeing her nerding out they way that I have done to some if the other male heroes made me realise that there does need to be more characters for women and girls to look up to. Even the new Star Wars films, which are not a patch on the originals, get a big thumbs up from me for giving my little girl a hero to look up to in Rey. What does a 5 year old care about story or character development; I never did when I watched Arnold taking out rooms full of baddies as a a kid, my daughter just sees a badass female Jedi swing a lightsaber!
Re: Teenager Hits $1.7 Million In Revenue During Pandemic Reselling Pokémon Cards, Game Consoles And More
‘What are ya buyin?’
Scalpers be scalping….
Re: Yep, The Wii U Gets A New Game In July
@Splodge the interface is slow (but still faster than my Xbox 360). Tbh, my only complaint with the Wii U is that you can’t change the system settings on the screen but only on the gamepad. Why they didn’t change that so that you can do it with the pro controller is beyond me, though I suppose it would mean that a lot of gamepads would be banished to a box forever. Though thinking about it, it wouldn’t be the first peripheral/ Trojan gimmick they’ve abandoned after a while (Rob the Robot anyone?)
Re: The Mega Drive Mini Is Getting Another Accessory Which Does Absolutely Nothing
I just wish I could get a real Powerbase converter model 2 for my Mega Drive 2. Had one as a kid but must have given it away. The second model was only released in Europe and goes for silly money now….
Re: Metroid Series Tops Wii U eShop's "Best Sellers" List Following Dread Reveal
@RadioShadow unless you have the same account registered on a Switch. Add the funds on your Switch eshop account and they will appear on your Wii U eshop account too. That’s how I do it to get around the fact you can’t use cards on the Wii U/3DS anymore.
Re: Best Sonic Games Of All Time
Sonic 1, 2, 3, S&K on the MD and Sonic 1 on the Master System/Game Gear are gaming gold. These are all great games in their own right and culturally were massively impactful in the early 90s. The fierce competition between Nintendo and SEGA was great for fans as they constantly pushed each other to out do the other. I was (like many people in the UK) firmly in the SEGA camp and I love revisiting these games 30 years later. So do my young children and if that doesn’t make them timeless I don’t know what does.
Re: Anniversary: The Nintendo 64 Launched 25 Years Ago Today
This was the first console where for me games went from arcade driven distractions on the Mega Drive to full stories that made me feel invested in the world. Mario 64 and Goldeneye were terrific but for me Ocarina of Time took storytelling in video games to a whole new level.