I won't be getting a Switch 2 for the foreseeable future. Not only have I been disappointed with the anti-consumer attitude coming from Nintendo lately, but Mario Kart World (the game that should have me hyped for the Switch 2) looks bland, empty and lifeless. And it doesn't help that it was intentionally held back for the Switch 2, leaving the Switch with no Mario Kart game to call its own.
Instead, I'll be getting a Playdate console. I've been interested in it for quite a while, and it seems like the perfect time to get one with season 2 (comprised of 12 new games) coming out. AND it's $200 cheaper than a Switch 2 even with a cover included.
@-wc- I put it down on day 1 too. I'm sure I'll go back to it eventually, but it's not something I'm looking forward to revisiting. Maybe I just need to get past the learning curve for the controls, but I still feel like there shouldn't be THAT MUCH of a learning curve for a side-scroller.
I bought this on PS5 in order to avoid the performance issues mentioned in the review. I love the concept, and the story execution is way darker than I was expecting (in a good way). But the controls are so complex and the difficulty is so unforgiving that I'm already raging at this game. Maybe I just need to get better at it, but I feel like it's harder than it needs to be — like I'm fighting the controls more than the enemies.
@somnambulance I've liked all of the Life is Strange games except for Life is Strange 2.
Life is Strange? 9 out of 10. Amazing. Before the Storm? 7.5. A strong prequel. True Colors? 8.5. Clever and emotional. Double Exposure? 8. Stellar voice acting (Hannah Telle fully deserved her Best Performance nod), jaw-dropping animations, relatable characters, and a fascinating story.
I think Double Exposure has been judged way too harshly. I thought the writers dropped the ball with one of the new characters, but I was on board for everything else (including what they did with a certain character that has so many people up in arms), and I'm excited to see where the story goes next.
@-wc- I'm definitely not clamoring for their products. I think they're poorly designed functionality-wise and that they have an overall junky aesthetic.
If anybody wants a Joy-Con alternative, I recommend the Mobapad M6 HD.
@JayJ Same here. The only reason I cared about the base release was the inclusion of Jaguar and Lynx games. I might get this DLC at some point if it's like 80% off its normal price, but it's a huge pass for me at $13.99.
@Grumblevolcano I feel the same way. I'm totally satisfied with the Switch as it is, and I have so many quality games still to play that it probably would be 2030 before I would start to feel like I could really use an upgrade.
It sounds great on paper, but I've tried the original Paper Mario and Sticker Star and couldn't get into either one. I just didn't care for the gameplay. Does The Thousand-Year Door blow those out of the water?
I don't even use my Joy-Cons. I had gotten to the point where I only used them with my Flip Grip because my Split Pad Pro and Split Pad Compact didn't fit it; but now that my Mobapad M6 HD has solved that problem, I have no use for my Joy-Cons anymore.
The Joy-Cons' HD Rumble feature was very cool (especially in 2017), but I think Nintendo grossly overestimated the usefulness of having two controller pieces that could be used as controllers on their own. I haven't used them that way even one time (except to test the functionality out of curiosity) in the nearly five years I've owned my Switch. I think it would have been far better for Nintendo to make robust, grippy Joy-Cons with an analog stick layout like what they had on the Wii U GamePad and Wii U Pro Controller.
Especially considering that you're effectively getting ONE game when you take into account that the Game Boy version is a simplified port of the NES game, $24.99 is ludicrous. I wouldn't even pay that kind of money for a bona fide lost classic like Faxanadu.
I would have expected "Story is a little generic" to knock the score down to 8 or perhaps even 7. After all, this is an RPG we're talking about. Story is a huge deal in these games.
I would love to see a compilation with Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and its sequel Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. I never played the second game since it was never released here in the US. (I didn't know it existed until it was already discontinued.)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 was an impressive game for its time. It used the dual-screen format to great effect (with you holding the DS on its side like an open book and looking at one side of an ongoing conversation on each screen), and it even made use of the DS Rumble Pak.
My second favorite game of all time is Bioshock Infinite, and I love 99% of it. But the game's final battle has such a ridiculous difficulty spike that I had to reduce the difficulty from Normal to Easy just for that one battle so that I could clear it. And it doesn't help that everything you have to do in that last fight is different from anything else in the game. It's a weirdly terrible design decision given how fantastic the rest of the game is.
I think it would be a bad idea for Nintendo to have an all-digital option. I understand that they may be wanting to test the waters with it, but Microsoft and Sony already have. I want Nintendo to have just one Switch 2 model. I want them to either stick with physical or go all-in on digital. But if they go all-digital, then they really should give the Switch 2 at least 1 TB of internal storage.
I've encountered multiple crashes since I started playing Horizon Chase 2 on Switch, one of which happened just a few virtual feet before I was about to win a tough race. Fixing that issue definitely needs to be a priority for the dev team. It's pretty bad if I can legitimately say that the game itself cheated me out of a win.
That aside, I think they did a really good job on it. The visuals are way improved over the original game, and the sense of speed is pretty fantastic. I barely noticed any frame rate issues, so I don't know what the big deal is about that. Maybe I'm not as sensitive to it. As for the perceived lack of variety, I would say that expectations probably should have been managed. This is a $25 classic-style arcade racer. I didn't go into it expecting a huge variety of race types.
Personally, I would give it a 7 out of 10. As soon as the crashes are fixed, that'll go up to an 8.
@TenEighty To each their own, I guess. For me, not having to drift or brake at all makes the experience worthwhile. I want a game like this to be straightforward and simple. If I want something complicated, I'll fire up Gran Turismo 7 on my PS5.
I haven't played that many 2023 games, but I've been really impressed with PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. I love the complexity of the narrative and the way it isn't afraid to go really dark when it's called for.
The first part of the game might have you wondering what all the fuss is about. But get through that and watch as the game opens up into something far more interesting.
If you're going to call something The Lara Croft Collection, I want it to be a lot more substantial than two fringe Tomb Raider titles. I want a collection with that name to have the original Tomb Raider trilogy, The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness.
@CJD87 I was redirected to amazon.com when I clicked on your link (since I'm in the US), so I'm not sure what case you were looking at. But I found my TomToc case on amazon.co.uk. I haven't written a review for mine yet (nor have I had mine very long), but I would give it 5 out of 5 stars so far. I don't see anything that's significantly wrong with it. The only downside I noticed is that it only has enough storage slots for 10 game cartridges.
One really impressive detail in this case is that it has a soft barrier resting against the top of the Switch console that keeps pressure off the Compact's shoulder buttons on either side. They really did think of everything.
@CJD87 I would happily swallow a 20% price increase as well, but I doubt it would be only 20%. One of the neat things about the Split Pad Compact and Pro as they are is that they draw such a small amount of power that they're powered by the Switch itself with no noticeable drain. If you start adding more components, you're going to have too much of a draw on the Switch's battery, meaning that each individual Compact or Pro unit would need to have a rechargeable battery. So, you've got rumble, gyro, and a rechargeable battery added to each unit. My guess is that the increase in cost would be closer to 50%.
Anyway, the Split Pad Compact case I have is the white tomtoc one. Really clean and slim design with a high-quality zipper. Definitely an option if you'd rather have a low-profile case. Those TotK ones are nice, but they're pouches. They have unnecessary bulk unless you plan on carrying a lot of your Switch stuff in them.
@CJD87 Besides the comfort, one thing I like about the Split Pad Compact is that it maintains the design language of the Switch with Joy-Cons attached. It looks like something Nintendo themselves might have made if they had decided to make a bigger version of the Joy-Cons.
I also have the Split Pad Pro, but the Split Pad Compact is my go-to for portable play. Besides the form factor, the improved analog sticks put it over the top for me. But I still use my Split Pad Pro for docked play via Hori's wired attachment for it.
The first Call of Duty game I ever played was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on my DS Lite. The second and third Call of Duty games I played were Black Ops II and Ghosts on my Wii U. All three ran well on their respective systems and were fun to play, and the Switch is obviously more powerful than the Wii U and a powerhouse compared to the DS.
If Doom Eternal can run on the Switch at a nearly locked 30 frames per second, then a Call of Duty game certainly can.
"So, if you don’t have the razor-sharp dexterity and reflexes needed to outmaneuver the many things that’ll try to hurt you, you’re probably gonna have a bad time here as it’s not like you can eventually buff your character’s stats enough to permanently reduce the difficulty."
Yeah, I'm out. I'm sure it's a great game, but this is not my idea of fun. I appreciate reviews like this that let us know when difficulty is an issue. There are people who love a steep challenge, and more power to them. Me? I don't want the frustration, not to mention the spike in blood pressure.
Two for me: the Cosmo Black original 3DS and the gold A Link Between Worlds 3DS (which I still have). The New 3DS line was nice, but it was such a small upgrade that I could never justify the purchase (especially since I had the XL version of the Circle Pad Pro for games like Resident Evil: Revelations).
It's a shame that the 2DS and New 2DS XL didn't come out way sooner. I can't see 3D images due to vision issues, so I would have gone with the 2DS and then the New 2DS XL had those been available when I was wanting the original 3DS and the 3DS XL.
What makes these closures especially disheartening is that with the exception of third-party collections (like the excellent ones Konami put out), we've reached the end of classic game ownership. Everything is transitioning to a live service, including access to classic titles. It's a bummer for those of us who just want to own the games we love, and it's why I was willing to buy every classic game I was interested in before the clock runs out.
I also bought Bravely Default and Bravely Second. I have no guarantee that those will be made available again in the future seeing as how Bravely Default isn't one of Square Enix's top franchises, and I really wanted to dive into them before giving Bravely Default II a shot.
Now the real question becomes: Will these digital purchases be available for redownload in perpetuity? If the portable hard drive I have attached to my Wii U fails in, say, five years, will I be able to redownload the games that were on it? I think all companies that sell digital goods should have an obligation to keep those goods available for as long as the company exists in some form (or else refund the full purchase price to the customer). I seriously would like to see federal legislation to that effect here in the US.
Once upon a time, the 3DS was my favorite console. It was a whole new world of portable gaming — the first time I had encountered home console-quality games on a portable console. Super Mario 3D Land was a great Mario title that felt like a GameCube or Wii release. Resident Evil: Revelations really was a revelation on the 3DS, with full console-style gameplay if you had a Circle Pad Pro attachment, character models that looked Xbox 360-quality, and a fun original story. Kid Icarus: Uprising was an amazing testament to what can be achieved when a developer lovingly crafts a game with one specific console in mind. Resolution and graphical tweaks notwithstanding, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS was every bit as good as its Wii U counterpart. Metroid: Samus Returns was an impressive reimagining of a classic Metroid title that would only be surpassed by Metroid Dread on Switch from the same developer. And last but certainly not least, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D are actually superior to the Nintendo 64 originals.
I couldn't even use the 3D functionality on my 3DS due to issues with my eyes, but it didn't matter. I still loved that console. It really is a shame that the 3DS eShop is shutting down for good. I'm satisfied with what I've purchased from it in its final days, and I just hope that Nintendo will allow people to re-download purchased games as needed for many years to come.
@Bolt_Strike I actually forgot to mention Xenoblade Chronicles X. That was a huge open world game with tons of exploration, and it remains a Wii U exclusive to this day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpNXhzscjQ
It's the Wii U for me. It has what I consider the best iteration of Super Smash Bros. (due to its excellent For Glory mode), Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U/New Super Luigi U, Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, Pikmin 3, Splatoon, Metroid Prime Trilogy (and other Wii titles), and a bunch of classic titles in the Wii U eShop.
I'm sure this is a very good game, but I'll be waiting for a major price cut during a sale. $99.99 for the full experience is absurd. We're talking about something that looks like a mobile game with simple graphics and animation. Nothing wrong with it looking that way, but it does imply that it's not worth the premium Square Enix is charging. I'd be willing to pay $49.99 for everything. That's as high as I'll go.
I'm not a fan of Link's Awakening DX. I find the colorization off-putting, like a badly colorized black and white film. If you want to play the game in its original monochrome form, I recommend The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch.
Life is Strange 2 is my least favorite game in the franchise. It has a plodding, drawn-out story, boring characters, an over-the-top caricature of racism at one point, and a weird, unrealistic friendly character at another point. There are moments when the game shines, but they're too few and way too far between. I would give the game just in general (not a particular version) a 5 out of 10.
The Switch still feels pretty fresh to me. I got the first revision (the battery revision) in 2019 and I've been enjoying it ever since. I've got a huge backlog of quality games to play on it and more on the way (like Tears of the Kingdom and Octopath Traveler II); so even though I know that a Switch successor has to come out eventually, I don't need one anytime soon. On top of that, I recently gave my Switch an "upgrade" of sorts by buying a Split Pad Compact for it. The d-pad on that thing is great for side-scrollers.
@Magician It's been a very long time since the release of Super Mario Odyssey, so my guess is that a new Mario has been in the works for a while. As for other potential launch titles, I think a big one might be Metroid Prime 4. There have obviously been major development issues with that one, but I think enough time has passed since development was rebooted that we could see a 2024 release for it.
@Magician Interesting. That's a take I haven't seen. I've been expecting a March 2024 release for their next console. I don't think they would wait as long as 2026 to bring it out, but I could see them pushing it all the way to March of 2025 if they're having trouble sourcing components or getting costs down to a level that's both profitable for them and reasonable for the consumer.
Sorry to be a downer on this, but I see StreetPass as a relic of a bygone era — a gimmick not unlike the Nintendo e-Reader for the Game Boy Advance or the Game Boy Camera/Printer. Was StreetPass mildly enjoyable in its heyday? Sure. Do I ever think about it now that I've owned a Switch for a while? Nope.
I'm not a fan of Wind Waker (tried the HD version on Wii U and didn't care for the gameplay), nor am I a fan of Spirit Tracks on DS (I just found it boring). I haven't tried any other Toon Link games.
That said, Toon Link is one of my favorite Smash fighters. His aerial down-smash (diving straight down with his sword pointed downward) is my favorite in the series.
I have the Switch version, but I'm so early in the game that they can take their time with the DLC for all I care. I wouldn't be getting to it for a while anyway.
Even though I have an Xbox One and a decent gaming PC, the Switch version was my version of choice for The Witcher III. I prefer the almost-watercolor environments to the more realistic but oddly less immersive environments in the other versions.
The only dance game I've ever played was Zumba Fitness: Dance Party on Wii U, and I just couldn't get into it. I want to mimic the dancers' movements AS I SEE THEM ON THE SCREEN. If an arm goes out to the right on my screen, I'm going to want to extend my right arm to match the side of the screen that the action is on, not extend my left arm to mirror what I see. The whole mirroring thing is just confusing to my brain. Dance games need to have either an option to have left movements register as right movements and vice-versa or an option to have the dancers facing away from the player.
@CazSonOfCaz I've played Doom 2016 on Switch and had a lot of fun with it, and that's a fast-paced game if I've ever seen one. And even though I haven't played it yet, praise has been heaped onto Panic Button for the amazing Switch port they did of Doom Eternal. I don't know what went wrong with Hyrule Warriors or certain sections of Breath of the Wild, but it's definitely possible for faster-paced games to run well on Switch.
Would it be nice to have a more powerful Switch? Sure. I just don't think it's the right time for one. After the Wii U debacle, Nintendo has to show consumers that they're willing to stick by a console for the long haul. In my opinion, 7 years into the Switch's lifespan (2024) would be just the right time for them to release a successor. I'm definitely willing to ride things out with the current Switch until then.
@Ara I would say that there's a difference between devs not putting in the effort to make a good port and a port just being impossible on the Switch. I've really enjoyed Doom 2016, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt on Switch, all of which would have been disasters on the console if the devs doing the porting hadn't cared enough to do the job right.
I think Alan Wake Remastered is one of those porting disasters I mentioned. If it wasn't possible to deliver a good port of the remastered version of the game on Switch, then either the project should have been scrapped or the original Alan Wake should have been ported to the Switch. What the devs delivered is pretty inexcusable.
As for It Takes Two, the "Switchification" of the visuals still looks good to me in the footage I've seen, and it didn't matter enough to the Nintendo Life reviewer for him to give the game less than an 8 out of 10.
I'm not familiar enough with Factorio and Sifu to comment on them, but I will say that cloud versions of games have been pretty dire for the most part on Switch. But that's not a knock against the Switch hardware since those games aren't even running on it. That's a knock against either the developers for not doing the cloud versions right or against the publishers for not providing quality servers for them to be played on.
Also, there's a fairly recent Nintendo Life video that points to the fact that better Switch hardware isn't going to stop bad ports. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkFNJ-pInF0
@Ara I'm not sure which new Switch ports are running "embarrassingly poor". One of the newest ones is Persona 5 Royal and I've had absolutely no issues with it.
As for a Switch 2.0 being long overdue, I very much disagree. It was already a bad look when Nintendo dumped the Wii U for the Switch when the Wii U had only been out a little over four years. It can certainly be argued that the Wii U was problematic enough for Nintendo that dumping it in that way was justified, but Nintendo can't do something like that again if they want to keep consumer confidence in the Nintendo brand high. To that end, I think that 2024 would be the ideal year for Nintendo to release a Switch successor. Giving the Switch 7 years on the market before releasing a new one would bolster consumer confidence in the new one, and a 2024 release would give Nintendo more time to hopefully take advantage of lower costs on more powerful components.
I'm fine with the way Persona 5 Royal looks on Switch. I imagine that the negatives he mentioned were implemented so that a rock-solid 30 fps could be maintained, and I'm totally okay with that.
I doubt that having the senior producer of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy will mean a whole lot for this Iron Man game beyond financial considerations during production. Creative talent is what I'm looking for and I don't trust EA to cultivate that.
@PtM Jason Schreier's info alleges that she was offered $4k for a cameo appearance in the game, but Hellena said in the first Twitter video she posted that she was offered $4k to do voice work for the entire game.
And I quote: "The final offer to do the whole game as a buyout — flat rate — was four thousand U.S. dollars."
If Schreier's information is correct, then she was flat-out lying in that video. But I'm not convinced that Schreier's information is correct (not because Schreier is bad at what he does, but because anybody can lie to a reporter). I would have to know who these anonymous sources are and how the documentation that's been looked at stacks up against whatever documentation Hellena has (assuming she has any) before I could come to my own conclusion on this.
I might be proven wrong about this, but I'm not buying it. It makes no sense to me for Hellena Taylor to risk her career just to lie about the pay she was offered. There's also the fact that Bryan Dechart (who played Connor in Detroit: Become Human) had an experience of his own with a different game that was strikingly similar to the one Hellena described. https://twitter.com/BryanDechart/status/1581326079091802113
It's a shame that I have to pass on OneShot. I was spoiled for the ending when I watched a Twitch stream featuring it years ago.
Monkey Island is one of those franchises I missed out on when I was younger. I'm sure this new entry is a really good game, but I just don't have that nostalgia pulling me in. (And I wouldn't want to play it without first playing previous entries in the franchise.)
I like the idea of shmups, but shmups don't like me. I'm just not good enough at them to justify a Radiant Silvergun purchase. I use my FlipGrip more for Pinball FX 3 than for shmups.
The original Shovel Knight really rubbed me the wrong way with a frustrating difficulty spike toward the end of the game that pushed me to just give up on the entire thing, so I can't bring myself to give Shovel Knight Dig a shot. It looks good, but I don't think it's for me.
The game I'm the most intrigued about is Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden. But I'd like to play the other entries first, so I probably won't be checking it out for a while.
I'm going to say Master Reboot. I played the Wii U version several years ago. It's a pretty rough indie game on the surface (one of the early offerings from Wales Interactive), but I loved its atmosphere and story. Nintendo Life gave it a 7 out of 10, which I think is fair given its shortcomings. It looks like a PS2 game, and the gameplay isn't exactly exciting (but it's not meant to be). But I think the intriguing sci-fi storytelling more than makes up for certain elements being a little rough around the edges.
@Ocaz I definitely get what you're saying. For me, it's the principle of the matter. If I own a digital good, I should ideally have permanent access to it as long as the company that provided it still exists. I've already experienced the total, uncompensated loss of one digital good I purchased on Google Play, and we basically just got started as a society with this whole digital purchase landscape. That's not good. These companies need to do better. I'd even go as far as saying that they're effectively stealing purchased goods from their customers by eventually removing accessibility without compensation.
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Re: Poll: With One Week To Go, What Are Your Switch 2 Launch-Day Plans?
@Apkorv The fact that they're charging $450 for it and they've effectively downgraded the screen is just mind-boggling to me.
Re: Poll: With One Week To Go, What Are Your Switch 2 Launch-Day Plans?
I won't be getting a Switch 2 for the foreseeable future. Not only have I been disappointed with the anti-consumer attitude coming from Nintendo lately, but Mario Kart World (the game that should have me hyped for the Switch 2) looks bland, empty and lifeless. And it doesn't help that it was intentionally held back for the Switch 2, leaving the Switch with no Mario Kart game to call its own.
Instead, I'll be getting a Playdate console. I've been interested in it for quite a while, and it seems like the perfect time to get one with season 2 (comprised of 12 new games) coming out. AND it's $200 cheaper than a Switch 2 even with a cover included.
Re: Review: Laika: Aged Through Blood (Switch) - A Supremely Unique Motorcycling Metroidvania
@-wc- I put it down on day 1 too. I'm sure I'll go back to it eventually, but it's not something I'm looking forward to revisiting. Maybe I just need to get past the learning curve for the controls, but I still feel like there shouldn't be THAT MUCH of a learning curve for a side-scroller.
Re: Review: Laika: Aged Through Blood (Switch) - A Supremely Unique Motorcycling Metroidvania
I bought this on PS5 in order to avoid the performance issues mentioned in the review. I love the concept, and the story execution is way darker than I was expecting (in a good way). But the controls are so complex and the difficulty is so unforgiving that I'm already raging at this game. Maybe I just need to get better at it, but I feel like it's harder than it needs to be — like I'm fighting the controls more than the enemies.
Re: Review: Life Is Strange: Double Exposure (Switch) - Not Quite Picture Perfect On Switch
@somnambulance I've liked all of the Life is Strange games except for Life is Strange 2.
Life is Strange? 9 out of 10. Amazing. Before the Storm? 7.5. A strong prequel. True Colors? 8.5. Clever and emotional. Double Exposure? 8. Stellar voice acting (Hannah Telle fully deserved her Best Performance nod), jaw-dropping animations, relatable characters, and a fascinating story.
I think Double Exposure has been judged way too harshly. I thought the writers dropped the ball with one of the new characters, but I was on board for everything else (including what they did with a certain character that has so many people up in arms), and I'm excited to see where the story goes next.
Re: Switch Accessory Firm CRKD Is Launching A Rather Unsavoury 'FOMO' Scheme
@-wc- I'm definitely not clamoring for their products. I think they're poorly designed functionality-wise and that they have an overall junky aesthetic.
If anybody wants a Joy-Con alternative, I recommend the Mobapad M6 HD.
Re: Mini Review: Atari 50: The Wider World Of Atari (Switch) - More Of The Brilliant Same
@FrowardCoast440 I appreciate the clarification. $8 is certainly better, but it still feels like too much from where I'm sitting.
Re: Mini Review: Atari 50: The Wider World Of Atari (Switch) - More Of The Brilliant Same
@JayJ Same here. The only reason I cared about the base release was the inclusion of Jaguar and Lynx games. I might get this DLC at some point if it's like 80% off its normal price, but it's a huge pass for me at $13.99.
Re: Poll: Are You Ready To Move On From The Switch?
@Grumblevolcano I feel the same way. I'm totally satisfied with the Switch as it is, and I have so many quality games still to play that it probably would be 2030 before I would start to feel like I could really use an upgrade.
Re: Review: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (Switch) - Still The King Of Mario RPGs
It sounds great on paper, but I've tried the original Paper Mario and Sticker Star and couldn't get into either one. I just didn't care for the gameplay. Does The Thousand-Year Door blow those out of the water?
Re: Talking Point: Would You Want To Reuse Your Joy-Con On 'Switch 2'?
I don't even use my Joy-Cons. I had gotten to the point where I only used them with my Flip Grip because my Split Pad Pro and Split Pad Compact didn't fit it; but now that my Mobapad M6 HD has solved that problem, I have no use for my Joy-Cons anymore.
The Joy-Cons' HD Rumble feature was very cool (especially in 2017), but I think Nintendo grossly overestimated the usefulness of having two controller pieces that could be used as controllers on their own. I haven't used them that way even one time (except to test the functionality out of curiosity) in the nearly five years I've owned my Switch. I think it would have been far better for Nintendo to make robust, grippy Joy-Cons with an analog stick layout like what they had on the Wii U GamePad and Wii U Pro Controller.
Re: Review: Felix The Cat (Switch) - A Cute But Costly Clowder
Especially considering that you're effectively getting ONE game when you take into account that the Game Boy version is a simplified port of the NES game, $24.99 is ludicrous. I wouldn't even pay that kind of money for a bona fide lost classic like Faxanadu.
This collection is worth $9.99 on the high end.
Re: Review: Unicorn Overlord (Switch) - A Crowning Tactical RPG Achievement For Vanillaware
I would have expected "Story is a little generic" to knock the score down to 8 or perhaps even 7. After all, this is an RPG we're talking about. Story is a huge deal in these games.
Re: Talking Point: What DS & 3DS Games Would You Still Like To See On Switch?
I would love to see a compilation with Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and its sequel Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. I never played the second game since it was never released here in the US. (I didn't know it existed until it was already discontinued.)
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 was an impressive game for its time. It used the dual-screen format to great effect (with you holding the DS on its side like an open book and looking at one side of an ongoing conversation on each screen), and it even made use of the DS Rumble Pak.
Re: Talking Point: What Are The Worst Parts Of Your Favourite Games?
My second favorite game of all time is Bioshock Infinite, and I love 99% of it. But the game's final battle has such a ridiculous difficulty spike that I had to reduce the difficulty from Normal to Easy just for that one battle so that I could clear it. And it doesn't help that everything you have to do in that last fight is different from anything else in the game. It's a weirdly terrible design decision given how fantastic the rest of the game is.
Re: Talking Point: Would You Buy A Digital-Only 'Switch 2'?
I think it would be a bad idea for Nintendo to have an all-digital option. I understand that they may be wanting to test the waters with it, but Microsoft and Sony already have. I want Nintendo to have just one Switch 2 model. I want them to either stick with physical or go all-in on digital. But if they go all-digital, then they really should give the Switch 2 at least 1 TB of internal storage.
Re: Review: Horizon Chase 2 - More Arcade Racing, With Some Bumps In The Road
I've encountered multiple crashes since I started playing Horizon Chase 2 on Switch, one of which happened just a few virtual feet before I was about to win a tough race. Fixing that issue definitely needs to be a priority for the dev team. It's pretty bad if I can legitimately say that the game itself cheated me out of a win.
That aside, I think they did a really good job on it. The visuals are way improved over the original game, and the sense of speed is pretty fantastic. I barely noticed any frame rate issues, so I don't know what the big deal is about that. Maybe I'm not as sensitive to it. As for the perceived lack of variety, I would say that expectations probably should have been managed. This is a $25 classic-style arcade racer. I didn't go into it expecting a huge variety of race types.
Personally, I would give it a 7 out of 10. As soon as the crashes are fixed, that'll go up to an 8.
Re: Review: Horizon Chase 2 - More Arcade Racing, With Some Bumps In The Road
@TenEighty To each their own, I guess. For me, not having to drift or brake at all makes the experience worthwhile. I want a game like this to be straightforward and simple. If I want something complicated, I'll fire up Gran Turismo 7 on my PS5.
Re: Poll: What's Your Game Of The Year Of 2023 So Far?
I haven't played that many 2023 games, but I've been really impressed with PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo. I love the complexity of the narrative and the way it isn't afraid to go really dark when it's called for.
The first part of the game might have you wondering what all the fuss is about. But get through that and watch as the game opens up into something far more interesting.
Re: 'The Lara Croft Collection' For Switch Has Been Rated By The ESRB
If you're going to call something The Lara Croft Collection, I want it to be a lot more substantial than two fringe Tomb Raider titles. I want a collection with that name to have the original Tomb Raider trilogy, The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness.
Re: Hori Unveils Five New Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Products
@CJD87 I was redirected to amazon.com when I clicked on your link (since I'm in the US), so I'm not sure what case you were looking at. But I found my TomToc case on amazon.co.uk. I haven't written a review for mine yet (nor have I had mine very long), but I would give it 5 out of 5 stars so far. I don't see anything that's significantly wrong with it. The only downside I noticed is that it only has enough storage slots for 10 game cartridges.
One really impressive detail in this case is that it has a soft barrier resting against the top of the Switch console that keeps pressure off the Compact's shoulder buttons on either side. They really did think of everything.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/tomtoc-Protective-Cartridges-Controllers-Lightweight/dp/B0BWPV9VP2/
Re: Hori Unveils Five New Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Products
@CJD87 I would happily swallow a 20% price increase as well, but I doubt it would be only 20%. One of the neat things about the Split Pad Compact and Pro as they are is that they draw such a small amount of power that they're powered by the Switch itself with no noticeable drain. If you start adding more components, you're going to have too much of a draw on the Switch's battery, meaning that each individual Compact or Pro unit would need to have a rechargeable battery. So, you've got rumble, gyro, and a rechargeable battery added to each unit. My guess is that the increase in cost would be closer to 50%.
Anyway, the Split Pad Compact case I have is the white tomtoc one. Really clean and slim design with a high-quality zipper. Definitely an option if you'd rather have a low-profile case. Those TotK ones are nice, but they're pouches. They have unnecessary bulk unless you plan on carrying a lot of your Switch stuff in them.
Re: Hori Unveils Five New Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Products
@CJD87 Besides the comfort, one thing I like about the Split Pad Compact is that it maintains the design language of the Switch with Joy-Cons attached. It looks like something Nintendo themselves might have made if they had decided to make a bigger version of the Joy-Cons.
I also have the Split Pad Pro, but the Split Pad Compact is my go-to for portable play. Besides the form factor, the improved analog sticks put it over the top for me. But I still use my Split Pad Pro for docked play via Hori's wired attachment for it.
Re: Soapbox: Can We Stop Pretending Switch Can't Run Call Of Duty?
The first Call of Duty game I ever played was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare on my DS Lite. The second and third Call of Duty games I played were Black Ops II and Ghosts on my Wii U. All three ran well on their respective systems and were fun to play, and the Switch is obviously more powerful than the Wii U and a powerhouse compared to the DS.
If Doom Eternal can run on the Switch at a nearly locked 30 frames per second, then a Call of Duty game certainly can.
Re: Review: Have A Nice Death - Delightfully Dark, Brutally Tough Roguelite Action
"So, if you don’t have the razor-sharp dexterity and reflexes needed to outmaneuver the many things that’ll try to hurt you, you’re probably gonna have a bad time here as it’s not like you can eventually buff your character’s stats enough to permanently reduce the difficulty."
Yeah, I'm out. I'm sure it's a great game, but this is not my idea of fun. I appreciate reviews like this that let us know when difficulty is an issue. There are people who love a steep challenge, and more power to them. Me? I don't want the frustration, not to mention the spike in blood pressure.
Re: Poll: How Many 3DS Consoles Have You Owned?
Two for me: the Cosmo Black original 3DS and the gold A Link Between Worlds 3DS (which I still have). The New 3DS line was nice, but it was such a small upgrade that I could never justify the purchase (especially since I had the XL version of the Circle Pad Pro for games like Resident Evil: Revelations).
It's a shame that the 2DS and New 2DS XL didn't come out way sooner. I can't see 3D images due to vision issues, so I would have gone with the 2DS and then the New 2DS XL had those been available when I was wanting the original 3DS and the 3DS XL.
Re: PSA: You Only Have One Week To Purchase 3DS And Wii U eShop Games
What makes these closures especially disheartening is that with the exception of third-party collections (like the excellent ones Konami put out), we've reached the end of classic game ownership. Everything is transitioning to a live service, including access to classic titles. It's a bummer for those of us who just want to own the games we love, and it's why I was willing to buy every classic game I was interested in before the clock runs out.
I also bought Bravely Default and Bravely Second. I have no guarantee that those will be made available again in the future seeing as how Bravely Default isn't one of Square Enix's top franchises, and I really wanted to dive into them before giving Bravely Default II a shot.
Now the real question becomes: Will these digital purchases be available for redownload in perpetuity? If the portable hard drive I have attached to my Wii U fails in, say, five years, will I be able to redownload the games that were on it? I think all companies that sell digital goods should have an obligation to keep those goods available for as long as the company exists in some form (or else refund the full purchase price to the customer). I seriously would like to see federal legislation to that effect here in the US.
Re: Soapbox: 3DS' Boundless Creativity Got Me, And Nintendo, Through Some Tough Times
Once upon a time, the 3DS was my favorite console. It was a whole new world of portable gaming — the first time I had encountered home console-quality games on a portable console. Super Mario 3D Land was a great Mario title that felt like a GameCube or Wii release. Resident Evil: Revelations really was a revelation on the 3DS, with full console-style gameplay if you had a Circle Pad Pro attachment, character models that looked Xbox 360-quality, and a fun original story. Kid Icarus: Uprising was an amazing testament to what can be achieved when a developer lovingly crafts a game with one specific console in mind. Resolution and graphical tweaks notwithstanding, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS was every bit as good as its Wii U counterpart. Metroid: Samus Returns was an impressive reimagining of a classic Metroid title that would only be surpassed by Metroid Dread on Switch from the same developer. And last but certainly not least, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D and Majora's Mask 3D are actually superior to the Nintendo 64 originals.
I couldn't even use the 3D functionality on my 3DS due to issues with my eyes, but it didn't matter. I still loved that console. It really is a shame that the 3DS eShop is shutting down for good. I'm satisfied with what I've purchased from it in its final days, and I just hope that Nintendo will allow people to re-download purchased games as needed for many years to come.
Re: Talking Point: Which Nintendo Console Has The Best First-Party Games Lineup?
@Bolt_Strike I actually forgot to mention Xenoblade Chronicles X. That was a huge open world game with tons of exploration, and it remains a Wii U exclusive to this day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpNXhzscjQ
Re: Talking Point: Which Nintendo Console Has The Best First-Party Games Lineup?
It's the Wii U for me. It has what I consider the best iteration of Super Smash Bros. (due to its excellent For Glory mode), Mario Kart 8, New Super Mario Bros. U/New Super Luigi U, Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, Pikmin 3, Splatoon, Metroid Prime Trilogy (and other Wii titles), and a bunch of classic titles in the Wii U eShop.
Re: Review: Theatrhythm Final Bar Line - A Magical Musical Romp Through Final Fantasy History
I'm sure this is a very good game, but I'll be waiting for a major price cut during a sale. $99.99 for the full experience is absurd. We're talking about something that looks like a mobile game with simple graphics and animation. Nothing wrong with it looking that way, but it does imply that it's not worth the premium Square Enix is charging. I'd be willing to pay $49.99 for everything. That's as high as I'll go.
Re: Every Nintendo Switch Online Game Boy (Color) Game Ranked
I'm not a fan of Link's Awakening DX. I find the colorization off-putting, like a badly colorized black and white film. If you want to play the game in its original monochrome form, I recommend The Legend of Zelda Game & Watch.
Re: Review: Life Is Strange 2 - A Solid Switch Port For This Thrilling Second Story
Life is Strange 2 is my least favorite game in the franchise. It has a plodding, drawn-out story, boring characters, an over-the-top caricature of racism at one point, and a weird, unrealistic friendly character at another point. There are moments when the game shines, but they're too few and way too far between. I would give the game just in general (not a particular version) a 5 out of 10.
Re: Video: Does The Switch Actually Feel 'Old' Yet?
The Switch still feels pretty fresh to me. I got the first revision (the battery revision) in 2019 and I've been enjoying it ever since. I've got a huge backlog of quality games to play on it and more on the way (like Tears of the Kingdom and Octopath Traveler II); so even though I know that a Switch successor has to come out eventually, I don't need one anytime soon. On top of that, I recently gave my Switch an "upgrade" of sorts by buying a Split Pad Compact for it. The d-pad on that thing is great for side-scrollers.
Re: Talking Point: So, When Will Nintendo Announce Its Next Console?
@Magician It's been a very long time since the release of Super Mario Odyssey, so my guess is that a new Mario has been in the works for a while. As for other potential launch titles, I think a big one might be Metroid Prime 4. There have obviously been major development issues with that one, but I think enough time has passed since development was rebooted that we could see a 2024 release for it.
Re: Talking Point: So, When Will Nintendo Announce Its Next Console?
@Magician Interesting. That's a take I haven't seen. I've been expecting a March 2024 release for their next console. I don't think they would wait as long as 2026 to bring it out, but I could see them pushing it all the way to March of 2025 if they're having trouble sourcing components or getting costs down to a level that's both profitable for them and reasonable for the consumer.
Re: Video: We Hereby Declare That 2023 Will Be The Year Of 3DS StreetPass
Sorry to be a downer on this, but I see StreetPass as a relic of a bygone era — a gimmick not unlike the Nintendo e-Reader for the Game Boy Advance or the Game Boy Camera/Printer. Was StreetPass mildly enjoyable in its heyday? Sure. Do I ever think about it now that I've owned a Switch for a while? Nope.
Re: Talking Point: As Zelda: Wind Waker Turns 20, Doesn't Toon Link Deserve A Second Chance?
I'm not a fan of Wind Waker (tried the HD version on Wii U and didn't care for the gameplay), nor am I a fan of Spirit Tracks on DS (I just found it boring). I haven't tried any other Toon Link games.
That said, Toon Link is one of my favorite Smash fighters. His aerial down-smash (diving straight down with his sword pointed downward) is my favorite in the series.
Re: Witcher 3's Free DLC Update Doesn't Have A Switch Release Date Yet
I have the Switch version, but I'm so early in the game that they can take their time with the DLC for all I care. I wouldn't be getting to it for a while anyway.
Even though I have an Xbox One and a decent gaming PC, the Switch version was my version of choice for The Witcher III. I prefer the almost-watercolor environments to the more realistic but oddly less immersive environments in the other versions.
Re: Mini Review: Just Dance 2023 Edition - Some Welcome Changes To The Old Routine
The only dance game I've ever played was Zumba Fitness: Dance Party on Wii U, and I just couldn't get into it. I want to mimic the dancers' movements AS I SEE THEM ON THE SCREEN. If an arm goes out to the right on my screen, I'm going to want to extend my right arm to match the side of the screen that the action is on, not extend my left arm to mirror what I see. The whole mirroring thing is just confusing to my brain. Dance games need to have either an option to have left movements register as right movements and vice-versa or an option to have the dancers facing away from the player.
Re: Nintendo Says It Won't Raise Switch Prices, But Will Continue To Monitor The Situation
@CazSonOfCaz I've played Doom 2016 on Switch and had a lot of fun with it, and that's a fast-paced game if I've ever seen one. And even though I haven't played it yet, praise has been heaped onto Panic Button for the amazing Switch port they did of Doom Eternal. I don't know what went wrong with Hyrule Warriors or certain sections of Breath of the Wild, but it's definitely possible for faster-paced games to run well on Switch.
Would it be nice to have a more powerful Switch? Sure. I just don't think it's the right time for one. After the Wii U debacle, Nintendo has to show consumers that they're willing to stick by a console for the long haul. In my opinion, 7 years into the Switch's lifespan (2024) would be just the right time for them to release a successor. I'm definitely willing to ride things out with the current Switch until then.
Re: Nintendo Says It Won't Raise Switch Prices, But Will Continue To Monitor The Situation
@Ara I would say that there's a difference between devs not putting in the effort to make a good port and a port just being impossible on the Switch. I've really enjoyed Doom 2016, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, and The Witcher III: Wild Hunt on Switch, all of which would have been disasters on the console if the devs doing the porting hadn't cared enough to do the job right.
I think Alan Wake Remastered is one of those porting disasters I mentioned. If it wasn't possible to deliver a good port of the remastered version of the game on Switch, then either the project should have been scrapped or the original Alan Wake should have been ported to the Switch. What the devs delivered is pretty inexcusable.
As for It Takes Two, the "Switchification" of the visuals still looks good to me in the footage I've seen, and it didn't matter enough to the Nintendo Life reviewer for him to give the game less than an 8 out of 10.
I'm not familiar enough with Factorio and Sifu to comment on them, but I will say that cloud versions of games have been pretty dire for the most part on Switch. But that's not a knock against the Switch hardware since those games aren't even running on it. That's a knock against either the developers for not doing the cloud versions right or against the publishers for not providing quality servers for them to be played on.
Also, there's a fairly recent Nintendo Life video that points to the fact that better Switch hardware isn't going to stop bad ports. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkFNJ-pInF0
Re: Nintendo Says It Won't Raise Switch Prices, But Will Continue To Monitor The Situation
@Ara I'm not sure which new Switch ports are running "embarrassingly poor". One of the newest ones is Persona 5 Royal and I've had absolutely no issues with it.
As for a Switch 2.0 being long overdue, I very much disagree. It was already a bad look when Nintendo dumped the Wii U for the Switch when the Wii U had only been out a little over four years. It can certainly be argued that the Wii U was problematic enough for Nintendo that dumping it in that way was justified, but Nintendo can't do something like that again if they want to keep consumer confidence in the Nintendo brand high. To that end, I think that 2024 would be the ideal year for Nintendo to release a Switch successor. Giving the Switch 7 years on the market before releasing a new one would bolster consumer confidence in the new one, and a 2024 release would give Nintendo more time to hopefully take advantage of lower costs on more powerful components.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry's Technical Analysis Of Persona 5 Royal On Switch
I'm fine with the way Persona 5 Royal looks on Switch. I imagine that the negatives he mentioned were implemented so that a rock-solid 30 fps could be maintained, and I'm totally okay with that.
Re: EA Announces "Long-Term" Marvel Deal For Consoles And PC
I doubt that having the senior producer of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy will mean a whole lot for this Iron Man game beyond financial considerations during production. Creative talent is what I'm looking for and I don't trust EA to cultivate that.
Re: A New Bayonetta 3 Report Features A Differing Account Of PlatinumGames VA Pay Offer
@PtM Jason Schreier's info alleges that she was offered $4k for a cameo appearance in the game, but Hellena said in the first Twitter video she posted that she was offered $4k to do voice work for the entire game.
And I quote: "The final offer to do the whole game as a buyout — flat rate — was four thousand U.S. dollars."
If Schreier's information is correct, then she was flat-out lying in that video. But I'm not convinced that Schreier's information is correct (not because Schreier is bad at what he does, but because anybody can lie to a reporter). I would have to know who these anonymous sources are and how the documentation that's been looked at stacks up against whatever documentation Hellena has (assuming she has any) before I could come to my own conclusion on this.
Re: A New Bayonetta 3 Report Features A Differing Account Of PlatinumGames VA Pay Offer
I might be proven wrong about this, but I'm not buying it. It makes no sense to me for Hellena Taylor to risk her career just to lie about the pay she was offered. There's also the fact that Bryan Dechart (who played Connor in Detroit: Become Human) had an experience of his own with a different game that was strikingly similar to the one Hellena described. https://twitter.com/BryanDechart/status/1581326079091802113
Re: Feature: Nintendo eShop Selects - September 2022
It's a shame that I have to pass on OneShot. I was spoiled for the ending when I watched a Twitch stream featuring it years ago.
Monkey Island is one of those franchises I missed out on when I was younger. I'm sure this new entry is a really good game, but I just don't have that nostalgia pulling me in. (And I wouldn't want to play it without first playing previous entries in the franchise.)
I like the idea of shmups, but shmups don't like me. I'm just not good enough at them to justify a Radiant Silvergun purchase. I use my FlipGrip more for Pinball FX 3 than for shmups.
The original Shovel Knight really rubbed me the wrong way with a frustrating difficulty spike toward the end of the game that pushed me to just give up on the entire thing, so I can't bring myself to give Shovel Knight Dig a shot. It looks good, but I don't think it's for me.
The game I'm the most intrigued about is Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden. But I'd like to play the other entries first, so I probably won't be checking it out for a while.
Re: Talking Point: What's The Worst Game That You Still Love For Some Reason?
I'm going to say Master Reboot. I played the Wii U version several years ago. It's a pretty rough indie game on the surface (one of the early offerings from Wales Interactive), but I loved its atmosphere and story. Nintendo Life gave it a 7 out of 10, which I think is fair given its shortcomings. It looks like a PS2 game, and the gameplay isn't exactly exciting (but it's not meant to be). But I think the intriguing sci-fi storytelling more than makes up for certain elements being a little rough around the edges.
Re: It Takes Two Switch Physical Version Appears To Require A Download
@Ocaz I definitely get what you're saying. For me, it's the principle of the matter. If I own a digital good, I should ideally have permanent access to it as long as the company that provided it still exists. I've already experienced the total, uncompensated loss of one digital good I purchased on Google Play, and we basically just got started as a society with this whole digital purchase landscape. That's not good. These companies need to do better. I'd even go as far as saying that they're effectively stealing purchased goods from their customers by eventually removing accessibility without compensation.