JamesR

I've been playing this a lot with the kids. It is great and has become their 'go to' game at the weekends.

Three times the price. Good luck!

Oh, I would pay serious money to get a large copy of that Psyduck

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still in the top 10. I'm calling it now, it will be the best selling Switch game when Nintendo announces Q2 numbers at the end of the month.

Been playing Super Mario Party with the kids - it's really good. I started Wolfenstein II last night and will try to make progress when the kids are asleep and the wife is out.

Erm... I believe this research assumes a uniform distribution for the probability of any face on the dice. It might be implied but I'm not sure whether it is true.

@Octane please tell me I'm not the only one who has used a Switch at the dinner table (especially when we take the kids to a restaurant)

I do think he's right. I use my Switch much much more than any of my previous consoles. More Switch time = more Switch games bought.

Believe it or not: Shovel Knight. Clearing some of the Feats.

I'm expecting very minor updates: better battery, slightly larger screen, fixes hardware exploits...

I don't think this will be a "New Super Nintendo SwitchBoy Advance XL Pro"

Already pre-loaded. Looking forward to play on Friday with the kids.

@CANCEROUS yes indeed. I know it's wrong but I am weak and usually pick up the "Deluxe" versions of things. Downloaded DBZ this morning - my word, it's a wonderfully presented fighting game.

Tempted for DBZ but £85... Ouch

Runbow looks like a no brainer. I have it on Wii U but will get it again on Switch.

Oh, I hope this is true!

I already have this pre loaded. It really looks like a return to form for Mario Party.

@Kilroy my money is on a Prime Trilogy HD reveal at the Game Awards along with Prime 4 footage.

I can live in hope, right?

I love all of Retro's games. Let's hope another masterpiece is around the corner.

Happy Birthday Rare!

@StevenG local two player is certainly working. The 'One Player' / 'Two Players' entries in the app are just there to drop/attach controllers. Everything also works with single joycon play (in case you feel the urge for some Balloon Fight with a stranger on the bus)

@StevenG local two player.

One cool thing you can do with 2 Switch is this: use one in handheld mode and have a second connected to the TV. Both can connect via the 'Play Online' feature of the NES app. This will mirror your handheld NES playing onto the TV. It basically feels exactly like a Wii U gamepad setup. I'm very impressed that I cannot feel any noticeble lag in this setup.

@tedko @Pirlo_ze_sniper

Yep. I purchased the family plan this morning and have set it up on 5 Switch (can't find the wife's!). I've been able to download and play the NES library app (which is surprisingly good/fast interface wise. I wish we had an option to remap buttons but I digress) on all machines. There are no locks on X number of people playing at once and they all work offline (i.e. airplane mode). Online multiplayer between accounts on the same membership also work. I got a two player session setup between two Switch (this basically mirrors the screen on both units) for two player games/pass the controller. As far as I can see there are no downsides - you basically get 8 times a standard membership.

Cloud saves have started being backed up on all Switch. In addition to Splatoon 2 not being supported, I also noticed that Minecraft wasn't either. However, the kids seem to have 1GB worth of save data each (I assume this is a world they've built) so that sounds like a reasonable excuse.

My setup is that each Switch is setup for a different Nintendo account and the children have their accounts linked to mine via the Nintendo account website. I assume you'll need to do something similar. I'm not sure how you "group" families together that aren't child accounts.

@Pirlo_ze_sniper I believe it's all linked members of the family plan. I'm pretty sure that's the case. I will know for certain tomorrow.

I really hope these NES games are just a proving ground for a subscription-based Virtual Console service. Nintendo would easily get £10 a month from me for a NES/SNES/N64/GC/GBA library.

I spent the weekend playing Shovel Knight, so I'm up for some NES action.

@Roam85 six. One for me, one for the wife and we have 4 kids with Switches. Technically, the wife doesn't play online much (we've done Mario Kart while I was out of the country) but the kids will need it for Splatoon 2 and Minecraft (plus Pokemon is coming)

I'm actually pretty happy that there's a family plan. We have six Switch in the household.

6 x 20 would be too much (especially as the children don't have their own income source)

I'm really not getting this. If you wish to subscribe to Nintendo Online, you'll get access to collection of NES games. If you would like a more authentic experience you can buy these bespoke controllers.

Personally, I love being able to use the NES controller for these games (and likewise the NES Mini controllers when playing Wii U VC). I really hope we see SNES and N64 controllers if other legacy platforms come to the system.

More widely I don't think sites should run these kind of stories based on smallprint found on Nintendo's website. As we've seen with the "cloud saves will deleted seconds after your subscription ends" story, the accuracy and vagueness of the smallprint leaves a lot to be desired.

I still not in love with the idea of the VC being tied to the Online service. They would have easily got $60 from me for this 20-game collection. Hell, probably would have paid significantly more. I don't think I'll ever be away from Wifi for more than 7 days - but I don't like the idea of losing access at any point.

My backlog is silly. Trying to finish various History maps in Fire Emblem Warriors. I'm 90 hours in and feel like I should finish it off before jumping over to Hyrule Warriors.

Might clear a few more courses in Tropic Frezze (I'm going for 200%). Will likely to roped into some Splatoon 2 with the kids.

I'm always suspicious of these kind of surveys. Fundamentally they exist so that management consultants can sell advertising strategies to the various companies. I personally don't believe that Apple is more widely recognised than Google. Or indeed Tesco.

However, it is clear that Nintendo is much more visible than a few years back.

I'm not sure how this is news. Does my car remain insured after I stop paying for my policy?

I am happy to pay for the NES games alone.

Woah! Pro Wrestling?!?! Is this the first time it's been available since the NES?

What a weird name. I was hoping for a NSMB collection.

Will buy Day 1

I thought these were awesome.

Mother 3 confirmed!

Waluigi playable in Smash Ultimate confirmed!

N64 games available on Nintendo Online and GoldenEye confirmed!

@Saego hmm... That's an interesting point regarding whether or not (and indeed why) government/regulators will step in. I think many gamers want loot boxes gone and see them as pure monetisation that often go hand-in-hand with grind barriers that push many towards them. I can understand (but don't agree) why a government may choose to leave this to the "free market" (i.e. Don't like them, don't buy the game).

I think framing the argument as whether they are technically gambling, pushed to children, are addictive, etc... kind of misses the point. I have never seen a game enhanced by loot boxes.

@Anti-Matter it's like the Toad houses in Super Mario Bros. 3 but you need to pay with real money.

It seems like I'm in a minority but I love the Joy Con colours.

I'm less keen on the Dock though.

@PGS_71 all online shooters (other than Splatoon) save their data server side. You don't have a copy of it. You can't back it up or revert to a previous state. Problem solved.

So you are correct, the real question should be why aren't Splatoon 2/Pokemon saving their data to a server? Fortnite does.

@MisterKorman I'm not sure that's right. I think the 3DS games had their save data on the cartridge (unlike most 3DS games) and there was no way to save/transfer to SD. This was certainly the case for X&Y/ORAS. I seem to recall that even the digital copies prevented loading "backed up" save data. People take Pokemon cloning very seriously.

I honestly see an automated server-side data store as the way forward (rather than an ad hoc transfer when the user chooses). This would prevent cheating for these games with online components.

@MisterKorman I'm afraid you are expected to start again. I'm not saying it's right or that there aren't relatively easy solutions that would prevent this but Nintendo don't seem keen to keep automated server-side tracking of this data. So in my mind Pokemon would always have been out of scope of a 'manual' backup feature. I'm less sure why Splatoon has been excluded - especially as levels and gear are (mainly) cosmetic.

I will say that throughout my Nintendo playing life (from NES to Switch via all the systems except the Virtua Boy), I have only lost a single piece of save data. This was a NBA 2K18 progress file that was stored (and corrupted while) on 2K's servers. Oh, the delicious irony.

@slatanek I don't think the PS4 will let you backup your online progress (the equivalent of levels and unlocks in Splatoon 2). This will be saved server-side (unlike on the Switch)

Ooof. This is really being blown out of proportion. Of course Nintendo aren't going to let you clone rare Pokemon and release them into the GTS.

The real solution here is server-side saving of this data (and indeed things like levels/unlocks in Splatoon 2). But we don't have that, never did and I don't think "cloud backups" were ever intended to be that.

My kids have recently got into Phoenix Wright (via the vs Layton game). Switch games (whether a collection or new game) would be Day 1 purchases for our household.

If something dropped this year, that would be great.

I learnt my lesson last year with NBA 2K. It'll be half price by the end of October. It's a good game but drops like a stone.

Very impressive.

Am I a bad person as I immediately assumed they have a large tax bill or that a quarterly rent is due?

@SuperCharlie78 just 90. No idea where the repeat posts came from.

I put more than 90 hours into Mario's Super Picross. Hey, it's Picross

I'm not expecting any huge announcements. I think the main job of the Direct is to sell the fall lineup. I expect a lot of time dedicated to Super Mario Party and Luigi's Mansion.

I think both Pokemon and Smash will be (mainly) left to their own Directs but may feature here.

Regarding Online, I kinda think they might put out all the info later. Perhaps an online-only Direct next week? Either way, I expect online to be basically what we have now but for a fee. There's been no indication of anything else.

I don't expect Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, Virtual Console, N64 Classic or Mother 3 to be shown.