GrizzledVeteran

Shame about the "Remix" series dying a quiet death. For a while there, the gaming community had a lot of fun speculating about which platform would get the "Remix treatment" next: SNES, Gameboy, etc.. (and also which games to include....)

I really enjoyed both Remixes (and the 3DS one too).

Not to worry:

When Nintendo releases this game for the 4th time in 2025 (if they stick to current patterns), I'm sure it'll be 1080p by then....

Rygar! Love that game. It's another example of the NES version of a game being superior to its arcade original. While it's only my opinion, I'd put Contra, Punch Out, and Bionic Commando in the same category.

@RobotReptile I loved City Connection! My brother and I rented it from our local shop when it was new. Not because we were looking forward to it, but because nothing else was in at the time.

We really enjoyed it!

Personally I wish Rygar was on this list. I have no problem with this list as I love most NES games (some for their brilliance, some for nostalgia, some for both!), but yeah, there are definitely some NES gems out there beyond the classics.

@JimmySpades
Hey Mr. Spades, Thanks for taking the time to write such a clear explanation. Much appreciated.

@Benji80
Been waiting for Hot Shot Racing since the Wii U days (when it was called Racing Apex).

I know there have been recent updates and videos of it in action, but after this long, I'll (happily) believe it's coming, only after seeing it in the eShop... Still....can't wait!

I doubled dipped on this game. Here's my conclusion:

80s Overdrive is one of those titles that absolutely benefited from Stereoscopic 3D on the 3DS.

This game actually looks (and plays) better on the 3DS than on the Switch on my 65-inch LG OLED TV.

Agree with others on here about Horizon Chase Turbo being superior.

Can't wait for Hotshot Racing (formerly "Racing Apex") to release as I love retro racers in general.

Lastly: Thanks a lot Mr. Scullion! Now I'll never see this title again without noticing its misplaced apostrophe! Lol.

10 out of 10. Yay for me.

This was fun. Please do more of these Nintendolife.

This poll is broken: I was all set to vote for Rygar. But hey, I get it. It's not coming until May 20th.....

Hadn't heard of this game before this morning.

Purchased it!

The flight mechanics remind me of "Looping" on Colecovision (1983?) which I used to play as a kid. Yep, I'm old.

@infernogott

I had the same thought. In fact, I just purchased it from the North American eShop, so yes, it definitely released today.

Not sure how/why Nintendolife left 80's Overdrive off their NA list.

@papermarioamiibo
Agreed. Having been 12 when NES was released in the US and having witnessed Mario-Mania take over the world (or so it felt to my pre-teen self), I would have been more surprised if gamers (back then) DIDN'T know this "trick".
Sure we didn't have internet and the Nintendo Fun Club Newsletter (which came before Nintendo Power) wasn't too common, gamers (even Moms and Dads) knew some basic Mario back in the day (warp zones, that 1st hidden 1-up mushroom in world 1-1, etc.).

I'm a huge Banjo & Kazooie fan, but not a fan of Pokemon. Still, I really like this art. It's pleasing to the eye. And while not a fan of Pokemon personally, I still like it (for my kids) and recognize the characters.

Is this the North American box art for Banjo (I see what looks like the USA's ESRB stamp). I'm guessing the box art was the same in all territories? Or was there already a "Box Art Brawl" for Banjo on this site?

Congrats to all you UK Mario-Karters!

The US is best at Pac-Man? I'm from the US (born & raised), and own an original stand-up PacMan arcade machine that still works(!) and even I'm surprised at the data.

North America for the win, for me.

You only get one chance to make a first impression. I played this game a little bit in late March when it was released. I wasn't very impressed and decided not to purchase it myself.

The updates mentioned are likely to make it a more enjoyable experience. However I've already moved on. It's not that I dislike it, it's just that I'm no longer interested.

What a shame they couldn't have released it in a better state. I might have purchased it.

As a teacher, I appreciate little videos like this. I will definitely be showing this to my students tomorrow and we'll all have Mario stuck in our heads for the rest of the day.

I've had my Switch since launch day and my family (including our kids aged 7 & 9) have put in many hours since social distancing began. But there are a few families in our neighborhood who have been unable to purchase one during the pandemic. This situation is frustrating as many of these "stuck at home" kids should be able to enjoy Nintendo Switch for its original MSRP. I've sold my share of classic games on ebay (VGA rated & all that) so it's not like I'm against making a profit off of games, but in this environment, intercepting new product and marking it up seems cruel.

I don't claim to know every "re-seller" or "scalper's" situation, but maybe they should back the F--k off for now and let these kids/families enjoy a Switch during lockdown.

R.I.P. Mr. May.

While Wizard Toad is pretty cool, I'm just not a fan of all that pink in the Japanese Box (even on Easter!).

Went with NA this week.

North America for the win (but only because of that awesome Kangaroo).

I recently purchased this game on my Xbox One X. It's the original Xbox version, however it has been "enhanced for Xbox One X."

I'm wondering: Is this incoming release (for Switch & PS4) going to be superior to my "enhanced" Xbox version?

If the differences are significant, I don't mind double-dipping, especially given the Switch's portability...

The Japanese box is pretentious. I laughed out loud when I saw it. Just terrible.

The North American one wins in my opinion. Although just barely in front of the European box.

Thank you Mr. Lane for putting this list together. It's very helpful.

Current state of mind (not that anyone asked):

I love my Switch, however after having finished Luigi's Mansion 3, I realized I'm not really excited about anything Switch related. I have nothing against Animal Crossing, however it's not a series I play.

My enthusiasm for Switch could easily be reignited with any additional information on Metroid Prime 4, Breath of the Wild 2, or any game announcements involving Mario in 3D.

I'm excited to hear more about Sony and Microsoft's upcoming consoles (I've cleared much of my backlogs on PS4 and Xbox One) and am hoping Nintendo gives me reason to be excited for Switch again soon. I'm currently finishing up Outer Worlds on Xbox and Jedi Fallen Order on PS4. I'm looking forward to Resident Evil 3 Remake and Cyberpunk 2077. Pretty great time to be a gamer, however I'd love Nintendo to bring it with some announcements.

These look great. Showed my kids the debut video and they're pumped.

I wish there were more traditional Mario Lego options out there for all the Lego enthusiasts, but these will be a hit in my household.

This was already released digitally.

I've had it digitally on my Wii U since September, 2013.

@Menardi Loved your comment, especially the 2nd paragraph about not judging art by modern standards. I make this (similar) point often when showing my kids retro video games.

However now I'm afraid to watch season 3 of Castlevania on Netflix!

I prefer the European one based on its colors, how the black balances out the electric blue of the whip/lightning, and goes well with the orange moon.

Just because we named our second son Simon after (you guessed it) Simon Belmont, I don't consider myself an authority on Castlevania.

Just because a significant portion of our gameroom is dedicated to all things Castlevania (including many items I acquired during my 4 years in Japan), I don't consider myself an authority on Castlevania.

Just because I received Castlevania for NES for Christmas in 1987 and was beating it without dying by New Years, I don't consider myself an authority on Castlevania.

Just because I don't consider myself an authority on Castlevania, doesn't mean I can't have an educated opinion about this list: I gotta say, it's pretty darn good. Well done!

Clean black border contrasting with the beautiful greenery of Green Hill Zone? North America for the win.

I like them all! The Japanese one seems more like a cereal box, but I like it.

This is Halloween, this is Halloween.

I like them all. However the North American one is the most pleasing to the eye for me. I like the generous use of green contrasting with the light blue sky and the quasi-medevial font for "Quest 64" (complete with tiny red jewels?) on a purple banner. The art kinda says "Saturday Morning Camelot" to me (whatever that means).

The game was terrible and so is the character art on the North American version. But with just a quick glance the North American box art wins for me, followed by Europe. But like I said, I like them all.

What was the last (most recent) physical game released on the Wii U?

"and of course, you’ll want to invert the Y-axis, since everyone knows that’s how FPS games should be played…"
-Ollie Reynolds

Mr. Reynolds you just shot to the top of my "trusted reviewers" list.

@First_Amendment Dear First Amendment, Your comment is so awesome I had to read it twice. I admire your gusto and enthusiasm. You have won the internet (at least for me) for the day.
Good day to you.

To me, Sakurai's involvement is irrelevant. Kid Icarus was great on the NES and Uprising was a wonderful addition to the series (not a huge fan of the Gameboy entry myself).

I don't think tying franchises to specific developers is great in the long run. Yes I get what Sakurai means to Smash, Kojima to Metal Gear, etc. etc. However these guys will eventually retire and it would be awesome if some others got a crack at it in the future.

Bringing Uprising to Switch would be phenomenal, and I have no doubt the controls could be worked out just fine.

While they're at it, please bring F-Zero, Pilot Wings, and other dormant properties back.

If Sakurai is too busy or dis-interested, why not hand it to some young, up and coming talent within Nintendo to see what they can do with the franchise. I could be wrong, but isn't that kind of how Splatoon was born? If Sakurai isn't too busy and is actually interested, then all the better.

I'm glad it's already been mentioned by VanYth and Link3710:

GEIST. I guess this game totally under-performed for the ol' Gamecube so its omission from this list is understandable. At one point, Reggie himself was trying to position this game as a "Halo Killer" and he was frustrated at its lack of success.

Still, the entire game is based on ghosts. Heck even the title of the game itself means "ghost" or "spirit."

With my current backlog, I'm willing to wait and enjoy the Switch version.

However by the time this comes to Switch in March of 2020, it will be $19.99 for PS4 and Xbox. I'll probably end up with the Xbox version since I rarely remove my Switch from its dock.

This is the update I was waiting for.
*goes to purchase game..

@Splatmaster Couldn't agree more. The PS2 was basically "The Trojan Horse" for the DVD industry.

I knew a few "non-gamers" who purchased a PS2 as a DVD player.

Back in 2001 I was living in Japan and had pre-ordered the Gamecube (along with Luigi's Mansion) at my local gameshop. It was going to be released on September 14th.

On September 13th (September 12th in the US), I was in the gamestore and the clerk, who kinda knew me at this point, broke the street date for me and let me take my Gamecube home a day early. He did it because he knew I was an American and he felt bad about the terror attacks in the US the day before. Obviously this was a terrible time in a lot of people's life (including mine), but being one of the first people in the world to bring home a Gamecube did give me a break from the constant news coverage of 9/11.

Odama for Gamecube came with a little microphone. While the microphone itself isn't "weird and wonderful", the game itself kinda is.

Great list!

@arekdougy Did you rush to get the first post and say "love Rare" instead of "love Retro"? Hey I love Rare too!

Speaking of Metroid Prime 3. I enjoyed this game when it came out. However while re-playing it about a year ago, it seemed a little silly. I believe the additional characters didn't really age well and just made the overall experience a little hokey. My son loved it though so I was happy.

Prime 1 has aged beautifully and is in dire need of an HD re-master!

This is great news.

Having already put over 70 hours in on Playstation 4, I probably won't be buying this game again.

However I have been curious about the 2D/retro graphical option on this version. Hopefully the demo will let me try this feature out.

Reminds me of "Rule of Rose" for the PS2. That's a good thing as that game was pretty freaky, at least back in 2006.

Looking forward to this.

@GetShulked I fear you're correct about only having one shot at a remake. But I wish against hope they'd put a "Luigi's Mansion Collection" on Switch someday.

@gamekill Hey thanks for the detailed explanation. I appreciate it!

I backed this day one (yep, seems like a decade ago). I was disappointed when they canceled the Wii U version (years ago) as I really wanted the map on the gamepad.

Fast forward to present day: I've been playing it on my Xbox One X for a week and it's pretty good. Yesterday, my physical Switch version came in the mail. It's..... disappointing to say the least.

At this point, the only way I'm playing this game on the Switch is if Nintendo releases a Switch Pro and 505 games upgrades this game for it. Otherwise, it's too big of a discrepancy.