Grackler

Congrats on 20 years! Not just NL, but the whole Hookshot enterprise is something I’m really glad exists.

Always amazed that Nintendo Life sprang up from Leicestershire; I grew up (and my family still live) in Loughborough with friends all around the area’s many small villages; and finding out NL sprung from around here was almost as amazing as finding out those great Rare games were made just down the road as a kid!

@GetontheStiix that’s untrue for Animal Crossing; game time isn’t tied to framerate it’s tied to the internal clock.

You can prove this by slowing down your game with too many objects (Fish are a good one) and the clock will be fine. In fact you can even have differing frame rates already if someone with a Switch 2 visits an island that chugs on Switch 1!

There could be other issues with raising the cap to 60; most likely with animation or background logic? But without access to the code we can’t know for sure.

This sounds great, but as I'd never heard of the first Lumo I think I'll try that first!

Really hyped for this, Bitmap Bureau are masters of retro gameplay and the graphics looks incredible!

This just doesn’t hold water technically or commercially. That isn’t the idea of Sony doing a handheld/hybrid (they may well do that!) but this sounds like a YouTubers fever dream of how it would go down, and I can’t see how it’s rooted in reality.

The Xbox Series S hasn’t been a roaring success, even within the Xbox SKU range. But more importantly, the Series S is waaaaay too power hungry to be a handheld as is!
I can’t see how Sony could even portable-arise a PS5 at this point, never mind a console with “a few minor upgrades” from the current Pro! We aren’t seeing miniaturisation on the level we saw in the past, nor are batteries getting better. Maybe it would "look" that good subjectively (lower res, dimishing returns), and GPU tech can do some impressive stuff but the CPU has to be clocked lower to run on what must be 15-18 watt peak power?

Even Nintendo has had to “up market” the cost of its console for what are not Earth-shattering improvements 7 years after Switch 1! You can get more power in a handheld, but not tons more tbh; and as seen with mini-PCs the improvement is minor on the best AMD chipsets compared to Nintendo’s Nvidia one.

The idea that Sony will be able to run anything close to a PS5 (or Pro!?) on a handheld battery in 2027 is frankly ludicrous. What components exist/are in the pipeline to allow that to run off a battery (it would be entering early-production now fwiw)? And the mooted “S” console will be in an odd place, as they will be paying for insane energy efficiency in its hardware when it’s running off the wall? Not going to help get the cost down (supposedly costing sub-PS5 or why even bother with a budget console?).
I’d be excited to see Sony take on a handheld/hybrid machine. But this doesn't feel realistic!

Amazing, getting this day 1 if I can!

Ah, MK Mythologies! I remember the absolute drubbing and 9% review score N64 Magazine gave it!

(The directory mini-review for it: "This could only be less enjoyable if it squirted sulphuric acid into your face.")

NA/EU for sure. The Japanese one isn’t ugly at all; but it doesn’t capture the games look of vibe half as well as the western cover!

@Krambo42 110%. It's so frustrating to use in the car, compared to other apps, setting a single game before you start driving going like an old CD.

@AmplifyMJ it was grand! Getting all the software moved over and downloaded was a bit tedious; but the hardware is a delight. I was super impressed with GameChat, the sound is so clear no matter what! And Mario Kart World was impressive, although I’ve not quite gelled with the new handling yet (but it’s been over a decade of MK8 so it’s pretty engrained!)

I’m finally gonna get to boot up and play the Switch 2 I got on launch day!

Family and friend stuff got in the way and it’s sat in a box sad for weeks. Finally game spend the time shifting over from my beloved but creaky near-launch Switch and hopefully try out some of these lovely framerate I hear it comes with!

@Jamie64326 honestly I’m not certain, I’m trusting others on that stereo thing. I tried it on the OG console in stereo and surround just now, and while the game noise like monster sounds is a bit directional it’s really hard to tell with the music at least on the two side speakers on my (very old) TV.

And yeah, basically the exact same, at least IMO. Apparently there is a difference in quality but I personally I’m not enough of an audiophile to tell! Just now even jumping between them on the app and I can’t really tell, maybe a tiny bit less tinny? But does seem like a wasted upload to me (over picking another game that is)

@Jamie64326 I can’t say why they added it again as they are so similar; but the 3DS soundtrack is a tiny, tiny, minuscule bit different to the N64 one. I think it’s stereo and it’s a different (but identical sounding) sound font, with one extra track for the credits?

The Japanese one is cool, but the PAL/US one pips it for me. The Rogue Squadron craft are more central (X-Wing front, Y-Wing there); you see a lot more of what’s in the game (AT-ATs down there, Mos Eisley) and the blue sky really pops.

Normally I’d go for the more minimalist look, but just feels like the western one works in this case; busy but not messy!

I had no idea they were in the menu! I always found them in the lobby for online on a arcade machine bit.

“A elegant display, for a more civilised age” -Obi-Wan Raytuby

Google’s translator isn’t AI per se, but it isn’t a million miles away…which makes it mildly amusing that it translated AI as such a good thing!

Wow, EA bought a successful, profitable studio with a reliable source of income…and somehow, somehow is struggling!

The weird insistence they stop using the Ego Engine and switched to Unreal can’t have helped. Massive upfront costs for worse game outputs, it didn’t get to F1 but it affected Rally games already. Also seemed to drop all non-core work.

Just another example of a big US corporation buying a decent UK firm and speedrunning it into the floor.

Yesss, SoR 1 isn’t as good a game as 2, but it still holds a lot of nostalgia for me, will be playing this at the weekend if I get the chance!

Seems a bit weird when the games are 3D and animated these days. Maybe a way to only have limited pokemon in each game but still allow cross-gen battles?
I have to say I expect it to look better soon. It looked very rough (mobile game issue?). The Stadium title's looked really great for the era.

Amazed they didn't chuck a classic like Pokemon Pinball out there. But even though the show was kind of bobbins I'm glad! Thye need to spend longer working on the mainline games.

Amazon really pulling the “we’re all looking for the guy responsible for this!” meme!
A shopkeeper that stocks, and makes money from, counterfeit goods would get told off. Amazon (and Temu and co) seem to just keep getting rewarded with a chunk of money both if they are caught and if they aren’t!

I wonder who the dev is. Sumo did a great job with Racing Transformed, but they just had big job losses which I wouldn’t expect with this on the horizon?

The corporations are huge and they can’t do a basic quality check. God that looks abysmal. The people who “made” it should be ashamed tbh.

Not sure I’m that keen on where the main FF has gone style wise, but I will say the Square Enix line of FF-like lower budget titles that started on DS with 4 heroes of light, and has gone on to produce Bravely Default and Octopath Traveller, has been more to my taste (and available on Nintendo platforms).

A big epic 3D FF in the style of 7-12 would be ace though!

The problem is deep rooted now. I know it was unpopular with Indie Devs at the time, but I really think they should have had a controlled flow onto the store from the start even if that meant some people got kept off unfairly.

Financially this open-sewer approach is better (hence Steam, App Store, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo all do it), and it lets indie devs publish without the arbitrary walls they often complained about before these stores arrived, which is mostly a good thing for freedom to publish.

However it’s completely tainted all app stores/eShops now. It would take years to go through and clean out the dross they have even if they started to monitor each game upload properly (which would inevitably lead to a limited number of “spaces” for indie devs to upload games each year). And every week they don’t do it the bigger the underlying issue gets.

Personally I think it’s fine for Nintendo to vet what games get published. There would be some crap and some good games would get kept off. But the eShop as is just feels awful and dodgy.

@KoopaTheGamer Very good point! It certainly isn’t a game with a “European seafront” vibe!

Although I would say that Nintendo haven’t traditionally cared all that much about that (they didn’t add an option in Animal Crossing games until New Horizons)

To be honest I don’t think the team uploading these are thinking that much about timing either, just working through the games in a pre-determined list. Maybe they’ll do some big drops around a major franchise release?

I love Wave Race 64, but it certainly is an odd time, always struck me as a summer-y game!
I didn’t realise it had “1997 version” tracks, were those songs changed in a rerelease?

I wouldn’t consider it a sting that it’s not Rogue Squadron 2. If that gets remastered I want Nightdive, not Aspyr to do it! They make some very rough and ready “remasters” that are often inferior overall to the retro versions.

That would have been great! And Bond is pretty kid suitable for most of it’s entries surely, as much as Batman and more so than Horizon at least. Plus it looks so far along in the trailer as well, what a waste of TT games time!

Oh well, Lego decide these things. Just seems like a huge wasted opportunity!

@ThatOneSneak that’s the badger, thank you! It really looks ace from what I saw.

Wow, did someone get out of the wrong side of the bed or something?

It's a cute little video, its 30 seconds, it's nice, show the game mechanics, and has some cute puppet work. What has Tik-Tok/YT Shorts rot done to people's brains that you expect so much more of it!?

@ThatOneSneak I do love a good arcade Racer! It's not been a terrible time for them at least: Hotshot Racing, New Star GP, Horizon Turbo games, Crusin' Blast, and the SEGA Ages Outrun and Virtua Racing releases. I think there's a promising looking Sega Rally alike in development on Steam, but can't for the life of me remember it's name?

Is Sony ran by 5 year olds? Now the sales figures are more in question than ever, how on Earth are they getting these numbers and why after 10+ years of no manufacturing did they suddenly jump when Switch got close? Nintendo won’t care, if they did they’d have kept producing DS to get it past PS2! I’m just surprised Sony care enough to keep juicing the (vague) number.

This is such an underwhelming choice 4 weeks in, it almost feels like trolling!

Can we get a better one next week Nintendo?

I had no idea Cranky had helped K.Rool in this one! Talk about bitter baby boomers!

WISHYWASHYBANJO

(I thought they’d made a real Banjo themed washing machine for a sec there!)

Urgh only 13! It’s quite US-centric to be fair, back then I only paid attention to the local gaming releases (and I don’t think we had a Beyoncé ad on TV in the UK, wasn’t it Louise Redknapp or something?)

Loved the Phat DS, got it day one and played it so much though A-levels and Uni! Still got my pre-order mag and DS “case” (fabric zip bag) from GAME!

I just love the names of the songs on the F-Zero X soundtrack, so wild compared to the usual naming for game tracks!

I loved Echoes. Gun to my head I’d rank the first Prime higher as it’s a more well-rounded game; but Echoes was everything I wanted from a sequel. Deeper story, harder challenge, a real tonal change, improved mechanics (the scan visor is lovely, very obvious what you can scan and you get great 3D models in the log book!).

I was engrossed from the word go. Would love, love, love a remaster! (I don’t think they are doing it, sadly!)

@JohnnyMind I also started with the GameCube game and hadn’t played the GBA entry until NSO.

It stands up well, although I don’t think the series has ever done multiplayer better than the GC entry!

@Arkay I think we’ve know that for ages just looking at the subscriber counts! It’s a decent value proposition for the cost.

It’s fine for that vocal minority not to want it and say so of course, but the endless OTT yelling about how awful it is clearly over the top; and probably won’t stop sadly!

@Serpenterror seems very likely. Top Racer collection up there is also renamed (they were Top Gear on the SNES) due to licensing of the title.

100% will. So much easier than YouTube, don’t have song vanish from playlists, and no hugely invasive ads. Loads of songs missing however; but it’s a good starting selection.

@Diagnosed_H1N1 You aren't the only one! I find the old one looks more...readable? Has a different vibe as well.

I bounced off the original (On Xbox One S) as it ran a bit wonky (normally ok with a rough framerate, but it really messed with my head) and some of the gameplay threw me off (hard to say, felt a bit wrong, levels seemed to have weird dead ends).

However I really enjoyed the sequel and in general I love 3D platformers, so if the new one runs better and plays better I will get it regardless!

Interested in this for my Mum, but a bit concerned about Switch performance. It looked a bit ropey in trailers, and I assume that was on PC or a "big" console!

@JohnnyMind I couldn't find out for sure with some Googling (sorry); but Team17 are British, Astragon Entertainment (the physical publisher) is German, and they have French on that image, so there is a chance of a PAL release!

I really enjoyed the demo! Will probably pick it up in the future.
In all honestly I’d be way for excited if it was an adventure in a contiguous world like Mystical Ninja starring Goemon; as that’s by far my favourite of the Goemon games and I just enjoy adventures in Zelda-esque worlds. Maybe the sequel!

I got the Evercade release, and it’s ok but the lack of texture filtering and analog stick do make the game look and handle a bit worse than the original N64 one.

My N64 copy was/is borked and deletes the game after World 3 is finished, so currently Evercade is the best version! But a copy with precise analog and some nice texture filtering would be great!

Is there going to be an eShop release? I’m not really interested in importing a LRG copy from the US, but I’d download a copy (otherwise I’ll stick to Evercade)

@progx really? I’ve only played the N64 version but I thought it was common belief that it was the intended and superior version?