JJtheTexan

"By November 2018, Switch had installed itself on Wii U's resting place, plucking the flowers that grew there and pressing them into Deluxe editions for its own catalogue"

This is outstanding writing. Love it xD 10/10

I'm a little confused by this "announcement," as Xtreme Sports for Nintendo Switch was announced in February by Limited Run. They already sold out the pre-orders for the physical editions months ago. (Edit: never mind, I guess this is just the release date for the digital version being announced.)

I wouldn't say I'm particularly excited about any of them, though of course I do welcome all the new racers.

My unpopular opinion: I still want "Smash Kart" with lots more non-Mario / 3rd-party characters.

Strong agree with everything here, though I think your dates may be off: Sonic 3D Blast and Super Mario RPG both released in 1996, not years apart.

I have around 40 hours of Vampire Survivors played on Steam, and I only set it aside because I was so confident that it would come to Switch, which is where I *really want to play it. Very happy about this announcement! I can't recommend VS enough. A fantastic value at twice the price!

I'm pretty sure the entire point of the name is to get gaming news websites to report on it, for free publicity. In that light, it is apparently a very successful name.

I need an option of "I'm actually near completing it, I think!"

130 hours in, probably 75% of quests and primary objectives complete. I can go to the final (?) area anytime I want now, but I'm still aiming for all shrines and lightroots, and finishing most quests.

Features: "A PORT THAT DROVE THE TEAM CRAZY"

Wonder which console that was. I do wonder, indeed...

I am 115 hours in. Still only three of the "Regional Phenomena" quests completed, around 115 shrines, and about 60% of the Depths mapped via lightroots. I can honestly say there isn't anything I wish I had known sooner. The joy of discovery in this game, from abilities to new places, cannot be overstated. I find something new every single time I play!!!

I'm clearly in the minority here, but I just really like the EU version's clean approach.

Reminder: last June, Fanbyte's Imran Khan reported that this game was in development but "shelved indefinitely" after it tested very poorly internally. He got 100% of the other details correct, including the horsehead mask guy and participation with smartphones.

Hi @Liam_Doolan, looks like the copy says 31st March, but the tweet says May 31.

Honestly, I just want to be able to explore a pre-Calamity Hyrule... a complete and shining Hyrule Castle and Castle Town; more vibrant towns and villages; a populated and well-kept Great Plateau. Basically just before the events of Age of Calamity.

Several others beat me to it, but this device is not a GameCube by any definition. It is a GameCube emulation device with at least some authentic GameCube parts.

This is not a knock on Macho Nacho - they do great work and some really impressive mods! I just object somewhat to the suggestion that this is a GameCube. Heck, an Analogue NT has more claim to being a Nintendo Entertainment System, since it uses real hardware and plays original Game Paks.

"Aggressive monetization" in a $60 game is enough for me to not even consider its merits.

It could turn out alright if Square Enix supports it properly and sells it like a standard game. If they make it F2P, overload it with microtransactions, or launch before it's had enough time in the oven, they could have another Babylon's Fall on their hands.

But yeah, watching the PSS live, I immediately said "Oh, it's Splatoon but with foam"

Happy to see this! I already preordered the physical version since I love Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move games, so I am pleased to know it delivers.

I skimmed through all the videos, and the game that interests me most is Agent 64... it seems like a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch, but it's only announced for Steam right now. Maybe we'll get a port down the road!

@Teksetter I did the same, then bought it on sale a couple months ago, so of course a physical release gets announced now

I'm around 25 hours in, still feels like I have 100 to go, and I can confidently give it a 10. If there is some horrifically bad late-game stuff, I guess that could change my mind — my feelings about The Minish Cap got worse the longer I played it, and I ultimately did not like it a whole lot — but my gosh, this is an incredible game so far.

I still play Pac-Man 99 every so often, but the online community has been pretty dead for about a year now. Matches take the full 99 seconds to find online players, and usually 60 - 80 of the participants are bots.

That said, I absolutely love this game, and it's very disappointing Nintendo and Bandai Namco are pulling the plug. How expensive could it be to leave a server active for online play?

The worst part is I never got Pac-One -_-

The first time I used one of Purah's towers. I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. Absolutely brilliant.

Now that I've played a fair amount into the game, I admit that while it is extraordinary in its scope, the performance issues do give me some concern. Imagine 1080p at a locked 30fps - modest by many standards, but it would make TotK even more incredible

Gunvolt is probably the only series that I really love and thoroughly enjoy despite lacking the skill level to complete all the games. I just cannot get past the final bosses in Gunvolt 1 & 2, or Gunvolt Chronicles 1, but I had an absolute blast playing regardless. The Mighty Gunvolt spin-offs are excellent as well.

I'm disappointed Inti Creates is taking a break from GV, but we have seven games over the last decade or so; that's a real accomplishment! Whenever they're ready, I will be waiting to play the next title.

I'm going to wait and watch the video until after I have several hours in the game, but I guess the visual and performance issues were not a bother at all to reviewers, given the universal acclaim.

I do hope that, if anything, the fact the game is perhaps designed with stronger hardware in mind hints at backwards compatibility for the Switch successor!

It could be a Switch successor. It's also possible it could be the rumored PlayStation streaming handheld, as others mentioned, or even an unannounced Xbox competitor to the Steam Deck.

Pre-ordered via Amazon. I thought about taking the day off work on Friday, but since I don't know when it will actually be delivered, I guess I'll just do my job. This is the sacrifice I make as a physical-first collector...

My first RPG period was Super Mario RPG, which has more than a few nods to FF in it, especially the Culex fight. It inspired me to try FFIV, and I got hooked from there.

@HammerGalladeBro also still missing Smart Ball / Jerry Boy for the SNES. I've never played it, but I'd love to see it come to the online service.

Another semi-obscure Game Freak gem is Mendel Palace for the NES, which is included in the Namcot Collection / Namco Museum Archives on Switch. Some of its characters bear a clear resemblance to later Pokemon. It's one of my favorite NES games!

@Anti-Matter Nintendo is not involved at all. The circuit boards inside the cartridges can be manufactured relatively inexpensively these days. As for the carts' outer shells, those are custom-made (they can't have the words "Game Boy" or "Nintendo" on them, legally) and are very similar to the originals. You can buy empty "replacement" game cartridge shells right now on Amazon and elsewhere for almost any older console.

I want to be excited about this, but every screenshot and video I've seen of this running on Switch, so far, appears to be "stretched" into 16:9 rather than the original, authentic 4:3 aspect ratio. The images also appear softened, instead of displaying sharp pixels. If that's really the case, and there's no way to display the games in 4:3, it's a nonstarter for me, certainly at the asking price.

Do you have any idea how high rent is in Brooklyn these days? It's not much of a stretch at all for Mario and Luigi to still live with their parents in a rent-controlled apartment.

Like a few other commenters, I already received my physical copy several weeks ago. It seems strange that it would be released at retail first, then get a much-later digital date. Maybe something to do with ratings from ESRB / PEGI / CERO? My copy doesn't have a ratings symbol on it at all...

Now do Knuckles' Chaotix xD

Honestly, I find it difficult to argue against any of the nominees. They all deserve to be in the Hall, eventually.

What's always bothered me is why the "World Video Game Hall of Fame" is in Rochester, New York, a small city with no connections to game development at all. I understand it's because the funding comes from a toy museum that exists because of a philanthropist from the area, but it would be nice if the Hall of Fame had a sense of place related to game development, such as Santa Clara / Silicon Valley, California; Tokyo / Kyoto, Japan; Los Angeles; Seattle / Redmond; or even Edinburgh or Twycross, UK.

My all-time favorite arcade game, and this is arguably the very best version of it ever produced. It's just SO good. I love the Switch version because it looks fantastic on a big TV, but my gosh I love the options and stereoscopic 3-D in the 3DS version.

"Metroid fans can now play every mainline Metroid game in the series on the Switch - from Metroid on the NES through to latest release, Metroid Dread" except for Zero Mission and Samus Returns, which, while technically remakes, are both far superior to their progenitors.

I couldn't find any American retailers with pre-orders available after it was announced, so I just went with Playasia. I don't mind the additional wait for shipping from overseas, and I prefer the Japan cover art anyway.

I snagged a pre-order on Playasia. I don't mind the additional wait for shipping from overseas. I have plenty of other things to play

I just want to visit Hyrule IRL, to be honest

@Setrodox Nintendo said there are more "returning characters," and since Zelda, Tom Nook, etc. have never appeared in a Mario Kart game, they probably won't be included :/

I realize it's called "Mario Kart," but I would love to see more of the non-regular Super Mario universe characters added, particularly Diddy Kong and R.O.B.

My list would be:
1. The King of Red Lions
2. Tatl
3. Midna
4. Navi (nostalgic reasons)
5. Ezlo
6. Ciela
7. Princess Zelda (Spirit Tracks)
8. Linebeck
9. Getting hit by a truck
10. Fi

I feel like I'm getting my money's worth, for the most part, on the Expansion Pack now. I am very happy with the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance presentation and games. I've been satisfied with the Nintendo 64 games, and GoldenEye 007 has been a delight.

That said, it's a shame there are still so many great NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 games that haven't (and probably won't) make it to the platform. Nintendo has the resources to easily make Nintendo Switch Online a "Netflix of classic games," but I guess its priorities are elsewhere.

I checked out the game profile page on the eShop a few hours after the Nintendo Direct, saw the price, and did a double take. I thought for sure it had to be a pricing error, so I downloaded it immediately, because I love baseball and it looks like a fun, arcade-style game, so why not?

Happy to see it's no error, and a bargain at twice the price.

Already pre-ordered. I was very happy with their treatment of Bubble Bobble 4 Friends and The Baron is Back, and I have enjoyed Puzzle Bobble / Bust-a-Move for many years. Looks like fun!

I don't have an Xbox, but I can compare the eShop to the PlayStation store, Steam, and Epic Game Store, and the Nintendo eShop is the least-functional. Slow to load, poor curation, terrible discoverability, absolutely no oversight over what developers are writing in their game descriptions, no user ratings, etc.

At least it's clean.

Nintendo no longer benefits from an E3 presence. It's that simple.

They can do Directs any time they wish, without competing for attention and eyeballs from a bunch of other major publishers at the same time.

They don't have to pay the enormous expense of going to E3 when everyone just watches the Direct anyway.

E3 used to be an important tool for marketing and negotiating with suppliers, vendors, and distributors. It no longer serves any of those purposes.

Don't read into Nintendo's absence from E3. It means nothing.

Does Aldi count as a German supermarket? Because we have Aldi in the USA

I don't love the fact that I have to turn button and stick remapping on and off to play with my Pro Controller, but aside from that I am extremely pleased with it and I can't put it down. I still have my N64 cart and play it from time to time, but the Nintendo Switch version is just so clean and sharp and fast and convenient!

Incidentally, I like the twin-stick hack so much, I haven't even bothered playing with my NSO N64 Controller.