Okay, I’m going to preface this by saying that I had fun with a lot of Switch games published this year. But let’s break this down.
By all accounts, Xenoblade 3 is a pinnacle in RPG’S, and Kirby is one of the best 3D platformers I’ve ever played. I really liked Splatoon 3, despite people saying it’s a copy, COD gets away with far less from what I’ve seen.
That’s 3 great games in a year that have mainstream appeal.
To be quite frank, Mario Strikers and Nintendo Switch Sports have a dearth of content, Mario and Rabbids, while still a good game, lacks the charm of the original, Bayonetta was wracked in controversy, and the other few games were kind of niche.
This is to say nothing of the controversy with Pokémon. I think that it was a good year, but if you’re not into at least 2 of the 3 games at the top, then you’re going to be disappointed, and that has room to be a lot of people. Some people don’t know what a Xenoblade even is, and Splatoon already being on the platform does not bode well for 3’s success. So, saying that everyone that was disappointed is impossible to please is kind of a bad faith argument.
Finally, comparing the Switch to PlayStation and Xbox makes no sense. The crappy performance of multiplats makes the Switch live and die on exclusives, so doesn’t that make sense to judge it on?
This was one of the first platformers I ever beat, and the nostalgia is strong with me. The game is varied enough that it never really gets old, and with the added benefit of multiplayer and it being on Switch, I have more excuses to pull it out.
5. Pokémon Legends Arceus (still haven’t finished enough of Scarlet to form an opinion, and open-world games aren’t necessarily my thing, but I can’t deny that it’s the most freeing Pokémon has felt ever) 4. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope: (again, haven’t played too much, but this is such a tremendous alteration of the formula and a great action RPG. 3. Splatoon 3: Witty placement aside, this is just more great Splatoon gameplay refined to an absurd degree, I can’t wait to play more. 2: Kirby and the Forgotten Land: One of the greatest 3D platformers I’ve ever played, and such a flawless translation of the classic formula. The Colosseum is still ridiculously hard, though. Or maybe I just need to git gud, who knows… 1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge: Was not expecting this to be so good. The best beat-em-up I have ever played, and I wasn’t even born during the Turtle craze. The environments are vibrant even on Switch, the music is amazing, it’s essentially the Sonic Mania of Turtle games, and I hope this leads to more revolutionary beat-em-up’s like this.
I’ve still got to round out playing the stuff that came out in the holidays, but right now, my money’s on Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Such a great adaptation of what made the series great, and the abilities, level gimmicks, and bosses gave me a constant smile. It wasn’t trying to be a masterpiece, but it was just a fun game all around.
I’m getting close to finishing Ace Attorney: Justice For All. I see now why everybody hates Turnabout Big Top. The leaps in logic you have to take there are so dumb, and some of the characters border on annoying.
Elsewhere, I’ll play some more Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle in preparation for Sparks of Hope. I’ve been working through it with my brother, and I’m excited to start the DK DLC, as that’s completely new to me.
Going to play some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, some Xenoblade Chronicles:Future Connected, and I might play the second Ace Attourney game or Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity if I feel like it. I’m going to watch my little brother finish Mario Odyssey as well, it’s the first game he’s finished on his own. Happy gaming everyone!
Really solid section over all. I was not expecting Peach Gardens to have that backwards third lap, and as someone who was raised on Mario Kart DS, that got a smile out of me. Halfpipes work great as well, was not expecting them to be so seamless. In general, they used antigrav much more, which is nice to see. Least favorite course is probably London Loop. It sure is a city course, but otherwise, all the courses are great to outstanding.
I feel like we’re going to look back at this era and see the lack of fleshed-out multiplayer games as Nintendo’s biggest fly in the Switch ointment. I don’t think it’s that much to ask for a game to eclipse content from a PACK-IN GAME ON THE WII, much less a full-price Switch game in the year of our Lord 2022, to the point that we’re just happy to have GOLF after it’s been delayed so many times… Yet we continue to shove this down our throats because we’re just so happy to have these games on the Switch at all, and casuals won’t play it enough to notice a dearth of content. And thus the cycle continues.
Happy for people that are enjoying it, and what’s here does look quite fun but this is one of the few games I will not buy for full price on principle. Maybe someday if I get a crazy discount or the game gets a lot more modes I might jump, but I gotta take a stand somewhere…
If there’s ever a sale I might pick this up. Atari history is one gaming subject I’m pretty weak on, and I’d be down to explore some of the games here, especially in a museum-like process.
Sticker Star is not the worst game that I’ve ever played. The graphics and music are nice, inoffensive fluff. There are some decently interesting locations, and there are some okay bosses. Sticker Star is the most boring game that I’ve ever played. There was next to nothing enjoyable, all the encounters punished me for interacting with the game’s mechanics, and the story was a barren wasteland, which is a pretty serious crime in an RPG. It’s about a 5/10 on an honest scale, but even as someone that’s never played TTYD and only played a bit of the original, this game stinks.
Color Splash and Origami King slowly pushed back the creative curtain, and it was only ever a good thing. I’m fine with Paper Mario being something not an RPG (The best part of Origami King was the real-time combat against the Paper Macho Soldiers) but I’m not okay with Nintendo taking the name of a once-proud series and repeatedly dumping on it.
Yeah, def getting this on PS4. The game just looks incredible in action so I want to give it a try for myself. I really wish this would have scored better on this site for all the people that just show up to kick Sonic while he’s down, but what are you going to do?
You know, I was decently skeptical when this released, and to be honest, I’d still prefer a linear 3D platformer that’s actually in 3D, but looking at this game in motion, I’m pretty impressed. I’m definitely going to get it soon, but probably not day 1.
I heard the rumor (on this site I believe) about a year or so ago that Nintendo’s new controllers were much less prone to drifting, and I honestly take stock in that. I havent felt much drifting in my new controllers. It doesn’t make the situation right, but Nintendo may have finally fixed the problem without telling anybody. Has anyone else had problems with newer controllers?
@Johnno137426 No, for three reasons: 1: The Joy-Cons are ticking time bombs as is, so you might as well enjoy them while you can. 2: The main reason people messed up their controllers was by using their palms to rotate the sticks, so if you don’t do that, you should be fine. 3: Not that many controllers were messed up because of that, it was more so people’s palms hurt. Hope that helped!
Is it just me, or is “Slime Speedway” an odd title for this game? It feels more like a track in the game than an actual title. Anyway, this is more what I would expect a Nickelodeon kart-racer to be like. Bummer for anybody that was excited, but I’m not exactly shocked:
Gotta go with Japan on this one. It doesn’t exactly scream “horror” (which I’m assuming is the point of the game), but at least I can tell what I’m looking at instead of a blob.
Ah, but it’s nothing compared to Picrossy Road coming out in 2040. You solve picross puzzles while dodging real life traffic. Bonus points if it’s in a crowded highway.
I swear… literally every time the internet has posted a big outrage this year about a game (at least from what I’ve seen) they’ve been wrong. People make much ado about nothing these days I guess. People that were hyped for this, have fun!
I’m not really feeling this one. With all the other animated Sonic projects, either the animation was fluid or the show itself was charming. This one doesn’t really have either. For 3D animation, I think Sega should just go for something with more of a comedic focus, because I don’t think they have the chops to go that way in intense action scenes. 2D Sonic animation has been gorgeous as of late, just look at the Rise of the Wisps cartoon. This show just looks a bit flat.
Gotta be Mario Party 3 for me. I like the concept of Goldeneye well enough, but I never really am able to pick a control scheme that is right for me. Maybe that’ll change this go around. I’ve heard that 3 is the best one, so I’m excited to give it a whirl.
@Arawn93 It’s perfectly fine if people like the game. If they find worth in it, good for them! But that doesn’t change the fact that the general consensus of the game is “Bought it, played for a few hours, that’s about it, which contributes to it’s anemic review score on Metacritic despite being a game in a fan favorite franchise that people have waited years for. This game is emblematic of Nintendo churning out the bare minimum, and I think that it’s worth people throwing a big stink about. I don’t need hundreds of hours in this game to have a good time, but when I can pop in the N64 Expansion and get more gameplay hours out of Mario Tennis and Golf, that’s a problem. I don’t even want some insane amount of stuff to do; literally adding a basic story or challenge mode that could be all text or contain next to no story at all, or even just launching with around 15 characters and actual varied stages would do the trick for me. It’s not an insane amount, the N64 games did it effortlessly, why is it a problem here?
7/10 direct for me. Way too many RPG’s and farming games for me, but when there was a hit, it was a home run. The Nintendo 64 games announced were probably the highlight of the direct; having a way to play the Mario Parties and Goldeneye on Switch is great. I really dug the way Peach Gardens looked, and having half pipes return to the series is cool. Pikmin 4 is a long time coming, and I think it’ll be worth the wait. Much like Xenoblade 3, Octopath Traveler 2 is probably going to get me to buy the original and give it a shot. Zelda looks good, but I’m surprisingly just not hyped for it. Open-world stuff just isn’t my thing, to be honest. I’m still going to get it, and am excited for everybody else that is excited! It Takes Two is a surprise, hyped to see that game on Switch! The game where you age when you die looked cool, I’m excited to see how that’s going to turn out. Mario and Rabbids continues to look really fun. I don’t really care about Nintendo Switch sports, but I might bite with a discount and one or two more games. Kirby’s Return to Dreamland is great on Switch, and I’m so excited to play it!
@Friscobay To quote the YouTuber Scott the Woz (in a family-friendly fashion) “Some may ask, why do you continue to purchase Nintendo games if they treat you like crap? Well, how do I know if they’ll treat me like crap if I don’t buy their games?” Such is the cycle of a Mario Sports fan.
@Arawn93 I speak as someone who is the target audience for these games: someone that’s enamored with the Mario brand and has friends to engage in multiplayer showdowns: it’s still not worth it. All of the best Mario multiplayer games have varied concepts and multiplayer modes and single player modes that make practicing and improving fun. Like, people rag on Tennis Aces, but that game at least has varied courses, a bunch of characters, several different multiplayer modes that drastically change the way you play, and a decently fun story mode that’s great to blast through. Strikers has like 8 stages that all play the exact same way, an admittedly fun gameplay concept that wears painfully thin after a few hours because all the matches play the same way, and one single player mode that’s just a tournament that’s either way too easy or unfairly difficult. I just really don’t buy the, “Mario spinoffs are supposed to be devoid of content” argument when Nintendo has done much better than this.
I find it kind of ironic that the game that stole “best multiplayer game” from Nintendo at the game awards, a title that they usually win in a layup, is now on Nintendo platforms. I’ll probably pick this up at some point, it looks fun, and I like co-op games. I’ll just need to find a partner, because it’s a little too adult-oriented for my little brother.
It is finished. Other than Smash Bros and the rest of Rare’s catalogue, that’s all the meaningful games on N64 that aren’t licensed or insanely hard to obtain.
They’ve pretty much completed the service with feasible games at this point. Other than Smash Bros, I can’t think of many more games the system needs. There’s a few more Rare platformers and some licensed games, but that’s about it.
Just when I was about starved for a couch co-op game, Nintendo comes flying in from the east! As someone who liked Star Allies but thought it was a little bland, I’m excited to play what some people think is the best game in the series, and the minigames look amazing! When it comes to value, the price gouging for the original is so insane that this might still be cheaper, so any way you slice it, I’m excited to play it.
Hopefully Crush 40 shows up somewhere in this game to do a boss song or something, I’m not really feeling these two songs, and that’s weird, because I loved “Infinite” and “Fist Bump” in Colors, so it’s not an instance of me hating new things. Hopefully they’ll grow on me.
Speaking of ending themes, I’m still miffed at what they did to Colors’ closing theme, “Speak With Your Heart”. I’m super nostalgic for it, and the 30th Anniversary one was amazing, but they had to give this wet fart of a rendition in Ultimate that for sure didn’t need to be techno.
@Yosher I usually don’t buy into the “NintendoLife inflates the scores of first party Nintendo games” argument, but this one seems really fishy to me. This game has nowhere near enough content to justify the asking price, with exhibition mode and a singular generic tournament mode that’s just playing normal rounds being the only form of content besides a tacked-on club experience that’s severely hampered by Nintendo’s woeful online service and the baffling limitations that prevent you from finding anyone to play with in the first place. They won’t even finish the game later like they did with other titles, as they’re just adding characters that should have been in the game to begin with, stages that all look the same no matter what, and a few cosmetics. I don’t have the other two Strikers games to go off of, but at the very least it looks like they tried to make a more well-rounded experience. Even Ultra Smash had a few different courts and plenty more characters. Here, there’s just nothing. The gameplay is really good, although it can get shallow after a while, and the presentation is befitting of Next Level’s pedigree, but there’s no game to house these two things in.
I will accept the arrival of Big the Cat if all the characters roast him mercilessly. Sega has a great opportunity for a comedy character here, they need to capitalize.
Sega has gone for the 2D Sonic nostalgia well so many times at this point, I just don’t want another Mania. Maybe 10 years down the line. What I would like to see is another Classic Sonic game besides Mania that isn’t absolute garbage (see 4, the terrible handling of Origins, Sonic Forces’ Classic Sonic moving like molasses and having the nerve to throw in an auto scroll level in a Sonic game). An Advance or Rush-style reimagining doesn’t sound terrible, but there would have to be a lot of work put in to make those levels stand out, because as some fun as sone of them can be, they do have the tendency to blend together in my mind.
Yikes, at least with the other Mario Sports games on Switch these updates wanted to make me go back and play it for a few minutes to try and get some enjoyment out of a half-baked experience. This update hasn’t even made me want to touch it again. If something isn’t done about this, Mario Strikers will barely have beaten Ultra Smash in terms of depth, and that game only cost $40.
For anyone complaining, nothing is going to get Nintendo to release this game until the war is long past. You can talk all you want about some of Nintendo’s questionable business decisions, but one thing they never do is get into any political or social controversy. They do whatever they can to be beyond reproach, and that will remain the case here. If you need a strategy shooter game this badly, buy Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope when it comes out. It will be just as good.
Quick question for anyone that’s played this game: do the stories connect to each other or are they separate? I don’t want any spoilers beyond that, I’m just curious.
Yikes, I don’t agree with this list. Opinions are still valid though. Here’s mine: Have not played: Home Circuit 9: Super Mario Kart: Has aged like a fine brick tbh, it just doesn’t feel great to control. The modes are fine, but some of the track design is also lacking, like the literal dead end in one of the Bowser Castle courses. 8: Mario Kart: Super Circuit: Feels much better to control, and the track design is good. No big standouts, but nothing bad either. 7: Mario Kart Tour: I really like this game. I haven’t spent a dime, and I have plenty of characters, karts and gliders, and can get 5 stars every once in a while. All the remixed courses are so fun, and having a mobile version of Mario Kart is good. It loses points for having those micro transactions though. 6: Mario Kart 64: A very charming game, but the racing is a bit janky. Drifting does not want to follow your wishes, and you don’t get that satisfying feeling of speed when you perform a terrific drift. I will say that the battle mode is probably the best in the franchise, as balloon battle turns into a game of manhunt. 5: Mario Kart 7: Virtually the exact opposite of 64: the mechanics are buttery smooth, but the soul just isn’t there. Gliding and underwater opened the door for excellent track design, but here it feels like they’re just scratching the surface. Battle mode similarly suffers from being sterile: the time limit just makes the experience not fun. 4: Mario Kart Double Dash: The basic system is a blast to control. Switching characters will never not get old. If there was just a bit more meat on the bones in terms of tracks and additional modes, this would be in contention for the best one. 3: Mario Kart Wii: The nostalgia glasses are strong with this one, it’s true, but everything about this game is just fun. I love the look of the game, it has some of the best tracks in the series (there’s probably only 3 mediocre and 1 bad course in the whole game), and the battle modes, while not amazing, do have great tracks to just roam around in, like Funky Stadium or Delfino Pier. Finally, the game is just fun to control. It’s not overly bouncy or completely rigid, it strikes a great balance. 2: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: This one’s pretty easy to explain: the best controls and tracks in the series, but a somewhat lifeless character roster and mediocre battle mode (even on Switch, with the exception of Renegade Roundup) keep it from being my favorite. 1: Mario Kart DS: Okay, this one’s definitely nostalgia, but this has all I want in the series: a good character roster, great tracks, with the introduction of retro tracks to the series, a great feel to control (I like drifting in this one more than any other), the last great battle mode, and mission mode make this my favorite. Hooking up a few DS together and playing this game on bus rides were some of my fondest family memories as a kid.
Comments 653
Re: Soapbox: If You Thought Last Year Was "Sad" For Switch, 2023 Might Be Hard To Handle
Okay, I’m going to preface this by saying that I had fun with a lot of Switch games published this year. But let’s break this down.
By all accounts, Xenoblade 3 is a pinnacle in RPG’S, and Kirby is one of the best 3D platformers I’ve ever played. I really liked Splatoon 3, despite people saying it’s a copy, COD gets away with far less from what I’ve seen.
That’s 3 great games in a year that have mainstream appeal.
To be quite frank, Mario Strikers and Nintendo Switch Sports have a dearth of content, Mario and Rabbids, while still a good game, lacks the charm of the original, Bayonetta was wracked in controversy, and the other few games were kind of niche.
This is to say nothing of the controversy with Pokémon. I think that it was a good year, but if you’re not into at least 2 of the 3 games at the top, then you’re going to be disappointed, and that has room to be a lot of people. Some people don’t know what a Xenoblade even is, and Splatoon already being on the platform does not bode well for 3’s success. So, saying that everyone that was disappointed is impossible to please is kind of a bad faith argument.
Finally, comparing the Switch to PlayStation and Xbox makes no sense. The crappy performance of multiplats makes the Switch live and die on exclusives, so doesn’t that make sense to judge it on?
Re: Talking Point: What Game Do You Replay Every Year?
Super Mario 3D World.
This was one of the first platformers I ever beat, and the nostalgia is strong with me. The game is varied enough that it never really gets old, and with the added benefit of multiplayer and it being on Switch, I have more excuses to pull it out.
Re: Video: What Were Your Top Five Switch Games Of 2022?
5. Pokémon Legends Arceus (still haven’t finished enough of Scarlet to form an opinion, and open-world games aren’t necessarily my thing, but I can’t deny that it’s the most freeing Pokémon has felt ever)
4. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope: (again, haven’t played too much, but this is such a tremendous alteration of the formula and a great action RPG.
3. Splatoon 3: Witty placement aside, this is just more great Splatoon gameplay refined to an absurd degree, I can’t wait to play more.
2: Kirby and the Forgotten Land: One of the greatest 3D platformers I’ve ever played, and such a flawless translation of the classic formula. The Colosseum is still ridiculously hard, though. Or maybe I just need to git gud, who knows…
1: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge: Was not expecting this to be so good. The best beat-em-up I have ever played, and I wasn’t even born during the Turtle craze. The environments are vibrant even on Switch, the music is amazing, it’s essentially the Sonic Mania of Turtle games, and I hope this leads to more revolutionary beat-em-up’s like this.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 24th)
I’m going to capitalize on the sale to pick up Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, as well as Kirby’s Dream Buffet.
Merry Christmas peoples!
Re: The Pokémon Company Takes Crypto Company To Court Over NFT Game
YOU DESERVE IT
five claps
YOU DESERVE IT
Re: Feature: Game Of The Year 2022 - Nintendo Life Staff Awards
I’ve still got to round out playing the stuff that came out in the holidays, but right now, my money’s on Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Such a great adaptation of what made the series great, and the abilities, level gimmicks, and bosses gave me a constant smile. It wasn’t trying to be a masterpiece, but it was just a fun game all around.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 17th)
I’m getting close to finishing Ace Attorney: Justice For All. I see now why everybody hates Turnabout Big Top. The leaps in logic you have to take there are so dumb, and some of the characters border on annoying.
Elsewhere, I’ll play some more Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle in preparation for Sparks of Hope. I’ve been working through it with my brother, and I’m excited to start the DK DLC, as that’s completely new to me.
Happy gaming, peoples!
Re: Bowser Jr. And Birdo Star In Mario Strikers: Battle League's Third Free Update
The only update that would get me to play more of this game is more single player content.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (December 10th)
Going to play some Mario Kart 8 Deluxe DLC, some Xenoblade Chronicles:Future Connected, and I might play the second Ace Attourney game or Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity if I feel like it. I’m going to watch my little brother finish Mario Odyssey as well, it’s the first game he’s finished on his own.
Happy gaming everyone!
Re: Mini Review: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 3 - The Best Set Of Tracks Yet
Really solid section over all. I was not expecting Peach Gardens to have that backwards third lap, and as someone who was raised on Mario Kart DS, that got a smile out of me. Halfpipes work great as well, was not expecting them to be so seamless. In general, they used antigrav much more, which is nice to see. Least favorite course is probably London Loop. It sure is a city course, but otherwise, all the courses are great to outstanding.
Re: Yuji Naka Has Reportedly Been Arrested Again Over Final Fantasy Insider Trading
He just couldn’t escape from the city.
Re: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass Wave 3 Is Out Now With New Custom Items Update
Ok, Nintendo!
I’ve literally wanted this mode my whole life, I can finally play with ONLY coins.
Re: It's Official, The Nintendo Switch Sports Free Golf Update Arrives Next Week
I feel like we’re going to look back at this era and see the lack of fleshed-out multiplayer games as Nintendo’s biggest fly in the Switch ointment. I don’t think it’s that much to ask for a game to eclipse content from a PACK-IN GAME ON THE WII, much less a full-price Switch game in the year of our Lord 2022, to the point that we’re just happy to have GOLF after it’s been delayed so many times…
Yet we continue to shove this down our throats because we’re just so happy to have these games on the Switch at all, and casuals won’t play it enough to notice a dearth of content. And thus the cycle continues.
Happy for people that are enjoying it, and what’s here does look quite fun but this is one of the few games I will not buy for full price on principle. Maybe someday if I get a crazy discount or the game gets a lot more modes I might jump, but I gotta take a stand somewhere…
Re: Soapbox: Paper Mario: Sticker Star Was When The Series Came Unstuck
@Dr_Lugae
Sorry to bother again, but what didn’t you like about it? I’ve never played it, but I heard the story was good.
Re: Review: Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration - A Painstaking Love Letter To Gaming's Pioneers
If there’s ever a sale I might pick this up. Atari history is one gaming subject I’m pretty weak on, and I’d be down to explore some of the games here, especially in a museum-like process.
Re: Soapbox: Paper Mario: Sticker Star Was When The Series Came Unstuck
@Takoda
As someone who only had the 3DS Mario Parties as a kid, I agree with your statement.
Re: Soapbox: Paper Mario: Sticker Star Was When The Series Came Unstuck
@Dr_Lugae
Just curious, which one did you hate more than Sticker Star?
Re: Soapbox: Paper Mario: Sticker Star Was When The Series Came Unstuck
Sticker Star is not the worst game that I’ve ever played. The graphics and music are nice, inoffensive fluff. There are some decently interesting locations, and there are some okay bosses.
Sticker Star is the most boring game that I’ve ever played. There was next to nothing enjoyable, all the encounters punished me for interacting with the game’s mechanics, and the story was a barren wasteland, which is a pretty serious crime in an RPG. It’s about a 5/10 on an honest scale, but even as someone that’s never played TTYD and only played a bit of the original, this game stinks.
Color Splash and Origami King slowly pushed back the creative curtain, and it was only ever a good thing. I’m fine with Paper Mario being something not an RPG (The best part of Origami King was the real-time combat against the Paper Macho Soldiers) but I’m not okay with Nintendo taking the name of a once-proud series and repeatedly dumping on it.
Re: Review: Sonic Frontiers - A Bold But Ultimately Failed Attempt At Something New
Yeah, def getting this on PS4. The game just looks incredible in action so I want to give it a try for myself. I really wish this would have scored better on this site for all the people that just show up to kick Sonic while he’s down, but what are you going to do?
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Sonic Frontiers
You know, I was decently skeptical when this released, and to be honest, I’d still prefer a linear 3D platformer that’s actually in 3D, but looking at this game in motion, I’m pretty impressed. I’m definitely going to get it soon, but probably not day 1.
Re: Feature: Every Pokémon Starter Evolution Trio, Ranked From Worst To Best
If you were to swap Unova with Kalos, this would be my list as well.
Re: Video: The Future Of Gaming Is Joy-Con Drift-Free
I heard the rumor (on this site I believe) about a year or so ago that Nintendo’s new controllers were much less prone to drifting, and I honestly take stock in that. I havent felt much drifting in my new controllers. It doesn’t make the situation right, but Nintendo may have finally fixed the problem without telling anybody. Has anyone else had problems with newer controllers?
Re: Review: Mario Party 2 - Party Like It's 1999 With One Of The Best In The Series
@Johnno137426
No, for three reasons:
1: The Joy-Cons are ticking time bombs as is, so you might as well enjoy them while you can.
2: The main reason people messed up their controllers was by using their palms to rotate the sticks, so if you don’t do that, you should be fine.
3: Not that many controllers were messed up because of that, it was more so people’s palms hurt.
Hope that helped!
Re: Review: Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway - Slams The Series Into Reverse
Is it just me, or is “Slime Speedway” an odd title for this game? It feels more like a track in the game than an actual title.
Anyway, this is more what I would expect a Nickelodeon kart-racer to be like. Bummer for anybody that was excited, but I’m not exactly shocked:
Re: Review: Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope - Creativity Trumps Challenge In This Delightful, Divergent Sequel
Yeah, I really liked the original, but the Donkey Kong DLC is still on my backlog. Might just finish that and wait for a sale.
Re: Random: There's Something Missing From The Mario Movie Poster, And The Internet Has Noticed
This is butt a joke, people. Nobody’s actually complaining about this.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
Gotta go with Japan on this one. It doesn’t exactly scream “horror” (which I’m assuming is the point of the game), but at least I can tell what I’m looking at instead of a blob.
Re: Mini Review: Picross S8 - Four-Player Picross? It's Absolute Madness!
Ah, but it’s nothing compared to Picrossy Road coming out in 2040. You solve picross puzzles while dodging real life traffic. Bonus points if it’s in a crowded highway.
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Return To Monkey Island
I swear… literally every time the internet has posted a big outrage this year about a game (at least from what I’ve seen) they’ve been wrong. People make much ado about nothing these days I guess.
People that were hyped for this, have fun!
Re: Sega Shares The First Official Teaser For Netflix's Sonic Prime
I’m not really feeling this one. With all the other animated Sonic projects, either the animation was fluid or the show itself was charming. This one doesn’t really have either. For 3D animation, I think Sega should just go for something with more of a comedic focus, because I don’t think they have the chops to go that way in intense action scenes. 2D Sonic animation has been gorgeous as of late, just look at the Rise of the Wisps cartoon. This show just looks a bit flat.
Re: Poll: What Switch Online N64 Game Are You Most Excited About?
Gotta be Mario Party 3 for me. I like the concept of Goldeneye well enough, but I never really am able to pick a control scheme that is right for me. Maybe that’ll change this go around. I’ve heard that 3 is the best one, so I’m excited to give it a whirl.
Re: Mario Strikers: Battle League Scores Second Free Update, Coming This Month
@Friscobay
Yeah, fair point. It just seems like we’re getting less and less content with each entry. Hopefully the next editions are still acceptable.
Re: Mario Strikers: Battle League Scores Second Free Update, Coming This Month
@Arawn93
It’s perfectly fine if people like the game. If they find worth in it, good for them! But that doesn’t change the fact that the general consensus of the game is “Bought it, played for a few hours, that’s about it, which contributes to it’s anemic review score on Metacritic despite being a game in a fan favorite franchise that people have waited years for. This game is emblematic of Nintendo churning out the bare minimum, and I think that it’s worth people throwing a big stink about.
I don’t need hundreds of hours in this game to have a good time, but when I can pop in the N64 Expansion and get more gameplay hours out of Mario Tennis and Golf, that’s a problem. I don’t even want some insane amount of stuff to do; literally adding a basic story or challenge mode that could be all text or contain next to no story at all, or even just launching with around 15 characters and actual varied stages would do the trick for me. It’s not an insane amount, the N64 games did it effortlessly, why is it a problem here?
Re: Talking Point: What Did You Think Of The September 2022 Nintendo Direct?
7/10 direct for me.
Way too many RPG’s and farming games for me, but when there was a hit, it was a home run.
The Nintendo 64 games announced were probably the highlight of the direct; having a way to play the Mario Parties and Goldeneye on Switch is great.
I really dug the way Peach Gardens looked, and having half pipes return to the series is cool.
Pikmin 4 is a long time coming, and I think it’ll be worth the wait.
Much like Xenoblade 3, Octopath Traveler 2 is probably going to get me to buy the original and give it a shot.
Zelda looks good, but I’m surprisingly just not hyped for it. Open-world stuff just isn’t my thing, to be honest. I’m still going to get it, and am excited for everybody else that is excited!
It Takes Two is a surprise, hyped to see that game on Switch!
The game where you age when you die looked cool, I’m excited to see how that’s going to turn out.
Mario and Rabbids continues to look really fun.
I don’t really care about Nintendo Switch sports, but I might bite with a discount and one or two more games.
Kirby’s Return to Dreamland is great on Switch, and I’m so excited to play it!
Re: Mario Strikers: Battle League Scores Second Free Update, Coming This Month
@Friscobay
To quote the YouTuber Scott the Woz (in a family-friendly fashion)
“Some may ask, why do you continue to purchase Nintendo games if they treat you like crap? Well, how do I know if they’ll treat me like crap if I don’t buy their games?”
Such is the cycle of a Mario Sports fan.
Re: Mario Strikers: Battle League Scores Second Free Update, Coming This Month
@Arawn93
I speak as someone who is the target audience for these games: someone that’s enamored with the Mario brand and has friends to engage in multiplayer showdowns: it’s still not worth it. All of the best Mario multiplayer games have varied concepts and multiplayer modes and single player modes that make practicing and improving fun. Like, people rag on Tennis Aces, but that game at least has varied courses, a bunch of characters, several different multiplayer modes that drastically change the way you play, and a decently fun story mode that’s great to blast through. Strikers has like 8 stages that all play the exact same way, an admittedly fun gameplay concept that wears painfully thin after a few hours because all the matches play the same way, and one single player mode that’s just a tournament that’s either way too easy or unfairly difficult. I just really don’t buy the, “Mario spinoffs are supposed to be devoid of content” argument when Nintendo has done much better than this.
Re: Critically-Acclaimed Co-Op Game 'It Takes Two' Confirmed For Switch
I find it kind of ironic that the game that stole “best multiplayer game” from Nintendo at the game awards, a title that they usually win in a layup, is now on Nintendo platforms. I’ll probably pick this up at some point, it looks fun, and I like co-op games. I’ll just need to find a partner, because it’s a little too adult-oriented for my little brother.
Re: More N64 Games Are Coming To The Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack
It is finished. Other than Smash Bros and the rest of Rare’s catalogue, that’s all the meaningful games on N64 that aren’t licensed or insanely hard to obtain.
Re: GoldenEye 007 Is Returning To Nintendo Switch
They’ve pretty much completed the service with feasible games at this point. Other than Smash Bros, I can’t think of many more games the system needs. There’s a few more Rare platformers and some licensed games, but that’s about it.
Re: Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe Flies To Switch Next February
Just when I was about starved for a couch co-op game, Nintendo comes flying in from the east! As someone who liked Star Allies but thought it was a little bland, I’m excited to play what some people think is the best game in the series, and the minigames look amazing! When it comes to value, the price gouging for the original is so insane that this might still be cheaper, so any way you slice it, I’m excited to play it.
Re: Sega Reveals Main Theme Song For Sonic Frontiers, Have A Listen
Hopefully Crush 40 shows up somewhere in this game to do a boss song or something, I’m not really feeling these two songs, and that’s weird, because I loved “Infinite” and “Fist Bump” in Colors, so it’s not an instance of me hating new things. Hopefully they’ll grow on me.
Speaking of ending themes, I’m still miffed at what they did to Colors’ closing theme, “Speak With Your Heart”. I’m super nostalgic for it, and the 30th Anniversary one was amazing, but they had to give this wet fart of a rendition in Ultimate that for sure didn’t need to be techno.
Re: Feature: Every Pokémon Game Narrative, Ranked From Best To Worst
@BabyYoda71
XY’s anime was MUCH better than the games, the characters in the games are kind of cardboard cutouts of the anime characters
Re: Mario Strikers: Battle League Version 1.1.1 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@Yosher
I usually don’t buy into the “NintendoLife inflates the scores of first party Nintendo games” argument, but this one seems really fishy to me.
This game has nowhere near enough content to justify the asking price, with exhibition mode and a singular generic tournament mode that’s just playing normal rounds being the only form of content besides a tacked-on club experience that’s severely hampered by Nintendo’s woeful online service and the baffling limitations that prevent you from finding anyone to play with in the first place. They won’t even finish the game later like they did with other titles, as they’re just adding characters that should have been in the game to begin with, stages that all look the same no matter what, and a few cosmetics. I don’t have the other two Strikers games to go off of, but at the very least it looks like they tried to make a more well-rounded experience. Even Ultra Smash had a few different courts and plenty more characters. Here, there’s just nothing. The gameplay is really good, although it can get shallow after a while, and the presentation is befitting of Next Level’s pedigree, but there’s no game to house these two things in.
Re: Rumour: The Sonic 3 Movie Synopsis Has Potentially Been Revealed
I will accept the arrival of Big the Cat if all the characters roast him mercilessly. Sega has a great opportunity for a comedy character here, they need to capitalize.
Re: Sega Reflects On Sonic Mania, Says It Was A Defining Moment For The Blue Blur
Sega has gone for the 2D Sonic nostalgia well so many times at this point, I just don’t want another Mania. Maybe 10 years down the line. What I would like to see is another Classic Sonic game besides Mania that isn’t absolute garbage (see 4, the terrible handling of Origins, Sonic Forces’ Classic Sonic moving like molasses and having the nerve to throw in an auto scroll level in a Sonic game). An Advance or Rush-style reimagining doesn’t sound terrible, but there would have to be a lot of work put in to make those levels stand out, because as some fun as sone of them can be, they do have the tendency to blend together in my mind.
Re: Mario Strikers: Battle League Update Adds Daisy, Shy Guy, And More
Yikes, at least with the other Mario Sports games on Switch these updates wanted to make me go back and play it for a few minutes to try and get some enjoyment out of a half-baked experience. This update hasn’t even made me want to touch it again. If something isn’t done about this, Mario Strikers will barely have beaten Ultra Smash in terms of depth, and that game only cost $40.
Re: New Rumour Suggests Advance Wars Could Be Delayed Until 2023
@Thoughts
Good point, it’ll probably not get released until it’s out of the public consciousness at least.
Re: New Rumour Suggests Advance Wars Could Be Delayed Until 2023
For anyone complaining, nothing is going to get Nintendo to release this game until the war is long past. You can talk all you want about some of Nintendo’s questionable business decisions, but one thing they never do is get into any political or social controversy. They do whatever they can to be beyond reproach, and that will remain the case here. If you need a strategy shooter game this badly, buy Mario and Rabbids: Sparks of Hope when it comes out. It will be just as good.
Re: Feature: What Is Live A Live? Everything You Need To Know (And Maybe More)
Quick question for anyone that’s played this game: do the stories connect to each other or are they separate? I don’t want any spoilers beyond that, I’m just curious.
Re: Best Mario Kart Games Of All Time
Yikes, I don’t agree with this list. Opinions are still valid though. Here’s mine:
Have not played: Home Circuit
9: Super Mario Kart: Has aged like a fine brick tbh, it just doesn’t feel great to control. The modes are fine, but some of the track design is also lacking, like the literal dead end in one of the Bowser Castle courses.
8: Mario Kart: Super Circuit: Feels much better to control, and the track design is good. No big standouts, but nothing bad either.
7: Mario Kart Tour: I really like this game. I haven’t spent a dime, and I have plenty of characters, karts and gliders, and can get 5 stars every once in a while. All the remixed courses are so fun, and having a mobile version of Mario Kart is good. It loses points for having those micro transactions though.
6: Mario Kart 64: A very charming game, but the racing is a bit janky. Drifting does not want to follow your wishes, and you don’t get that satisfying feeling of speed when you perform a terrific drift. I will say that the battle mode is probably the best in the franchise, as balloon battle turns into a game of manhunt.
5: Mario Kart 7: Virtually the exact opposite of 64: the mechanics are buttery smooth, but the soul just isn’t there. Gliding and underwater opened the door for excellent track design, but here it feels like they’re just scratching the surface. Battle mode similarly suffers from being sterile: the time limit just makes the experience not fun.
4: Mario Kart Double Dash: The basic system is a blast to control. Switching characters will never not get old. If there was just a bit more meat on the bones in terms of tracks and additional modes, this would be in contention for the best one.
3: Mario Kart Wii: The nostalgia glasses are strong with this one, it’s true, but everything about this game is just fun. I love the look of the game, it has some of the best tracks in the series (there’s probably only 3 mediocre and 1 bad course in the whole game), and the battle modes, while not amazing, do have great tracks to just roam around in, like Funky Stadium or Delfino Pier. Finally, the game is just fun to control. It’s not overly bouncy or completely rigid, it strikes a great balance.
2: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: This one’s pretty easy to explain: the best controls and tracks in the series, but a somewhat lifeless character roster and mediocre battle mode (even on Switch, with the exception of Renegade Roundup) keep it from being my favorite.
1: Mario Kart DS: Okay, this one’s definitely nostalgia, but this has all I want in the series: a good character roster, great tracks, with the introduction of retro tracks to the series, a great feel to control (I like drifting in this one more than any other), the last great battle mode, and mission mode make this my favorite. Hooking up a few DS together and playing this game on bus rides were some of my fondest family memories as a kid.