Jaquan

@Friendly
To be fair if they use Mystery Gifts like Caocom uses even quests in Monster Hunter they can just give players some reasons to get back into the game and out some extra longevity.

@HugoGED

So you'd rather be stuck with Codes in the box you can't even resell at later date? Because frankly that's an alternative.

@Kiyata
To be fair people buy all kinds of electronics through couriers and the packaging varies. Ignoring the fact most online retailers put that box into secured additional box or at least use bubble wrap. I mean Phones have a very similar packaging since at least 10 years.

@Moistnado

Not really no. They're better because the game isn't automatically assigned to your account. Meaning just like a physical game you can resell it.

@MarkSeteth72

No but usually all those technical advances and hyper realism require substantial investment. I mean just looking at more recent titles like Monster Hunter Wilds. Out of consoles not even PS5 Pro with it's 700$ Price tag can run it above 30 FPS without sacrificing quality.

@Anti-Matter

That's why Sony's Latest Console doesn't have a disk drive. Why PCs for almost 20 years moved to digital storefronts of which only GOG offers a semblance of ownership. Why even Physical Releases on home consoles are basically what Nintendo started offering just now. Sadly the customers have spoken and don't seem to mind that shift enough to dissuade devs from using it

@Zuljaras

And on my 3DS i have long since downloaded all games I bought on eShop onto an SD card. As long as both the SD card and the Hardware works there's nothing they can do to take it away from me.

Also let's not pretend that GoG is a standard. They're outliers and even then they'll have to bend the knee if the game's right holders demand it. Of semi recent things Warcraft and Warcraft II in their original form are no longer available after Blizzard pressed to remove them due to them releasing Remastered versions.

@Zuljaras

Now that's a reasonable fear but honestly that ship has long since sailed. PCs barely use Physical Releases and discs. Sony and Microsoft remove Disc Drives from their console and even then for past two or maybe three generations they moved to selling physical games as Installation discs that would then download and dump the game onto your console's hard drive.
Even then the 3DS eshop was discontinued like two years ago? And despite that we can still access the games we bought and redownload them normally.

@HugoGED
The difference lies in ability to resell the game at a later date. Since Game Key Cart is what holds the game's License Key and doesn't bind it to an account you can lend and if so desired sell your cart. Something you couldn't do in proper digital copy.

The cart is basically an installation disc. Thing existing forever on PCs before Digital Storefronts basically erased Physical Discs as a medium and something Xbox and Playstation have been using for last 2-3 generations.

@Strawblaze

Oh yeah obviously there is a difference although I won't say I remember some of the gimmicks fondly. For the matter I'll focus on Handhelds as those I owned. DS second touch screen was a revolutionary gimmick but sadly the way it was utilized wasn't. I wasn't fond of games like Phantom Hourglass or quite a few RPGs that would use the second screen as main or only method of control. I wasn't fond of third Pokemon Ranger game using this weird seal systems that forced you to draw on your screen. I absolutely despised Dawn of Sorrow and it's stupid seals requiring once again draw a pattern quickly or having to redo last bit of the fight ad infinitum. The only games I truly didn't mind were those that used bottom screen for menuing and Etrian Odyssey Trilogy that used the screen for interactive map drawing.

The gimmick for 3DS was so poorly thought out and pointless that I swapped to the 2DS line of titles. Streetpass wasn't useful where I lived and AR i believe I only ever seen being used in two games. Intro for Bravely Default and PMD Gates of Infinity.

And even outside of that Nintendo tends to get weird when they feel they need to. From NES to Gamecube and from Gameboy to Gameboy Advance SP they iterated for as long as they felt they can.

They're spirit and way is honestly best seen in games they make though. They're the ones that make the best use of whatever small gimmicks their hardware has. And frankly the idea of a game using two mouses at the same time is so very much like them.

@AnonyQ Not really just that. Because the Cart serves as what holds the license and is not bound to any specific account you can lend or resell the game at later date.

@Olrun

Just like installation disks for Playstation and Xbox. At the same time the license does not get bound to your account meaning you can lend the game or sell it later.

@Anti-Matter

To be fair that is a very far off future. I mean 3DS eshop was closed a year+, online services for games were discontinued but the games you purchased can still be redownloaded at this point and it doesn't seem like they plan to change it.

@Porco

And Yet CDPR is porting Cyberpunk 2077 in quality that was never reached on PS4 and PS4 Pro with the expansion that was never released on previous Gen. Crazy isn't it?

@Ristar24

The Nintendo Switch 2 Edition upgrades are paid only if they add up more than performance/Graphical Upgrades. Mouse controls, Additional features in BoW/ToK or entire new modes in Jamboree and Kirby. Nintendo already listed several titles that will get those basic improvement patches for free including ARMS, Captain Toad, basically all 3D Marios and The two Chibi style Zelda Games.

The game prices worry me but at the same time they don't seem to be standard. Of confirmed games MK:World is 80 but DK Bananza is 70 whole SF6 and Bravely Default are much cheaper (although their physical copy is only data disc). Hopefully they'll not use 80$ one more often than they should.

@Kirbyo

Apparently Legend of Zelda Upgrades are included in NSO Expansion.

@Sonicka

Also there's already a small but existing catalogue of games that will simply receive upgrade patches for free. Among them the Link's Awakening, Echoes of Wisdom, Basically all 3D Mario Games. Seems like the paid upgrades are only for the games that utilize the new functions of Switch 2 and not just performance and Graphical upgrades.

@Paddle1

I mean at 50k Yen resellers would gladly buy out entire stock just to make some more dirty profit. Even with Taxes it's still below International price.

@Agamembar
Oh my that's an undertaking considering 30 is a behemoth of a title that's way too long for it's own sake xD

I'm honestly surprised that SRW Y was not in the Western Direct considering it's worldwide release. Hopefully it means it will show up in EU eShop this time around (although in case it doesn't... Well I have the accounts prepared)

@rjejr
Considering all that happens around X it's not implausible to disassociate yourself from it as a company.

@Jireland92

Yeah people seems to forget that the movie paints it as Mario's first ever foray into the Kingdom while yeah Peach been through this multiple times.

@Kimyonaakuma They also did basically nothing to games themselves with P3P managing to run and look worse than the original. Ports here aren't exactly that low of an effort compared to that. New UI basically rewriting the code to work on new engine, redesigned controls. Does it justify the price? Probably not but it's far more effort put into it than P3P and P4G

@sunspotty
Yeah like with post above I am on hard disagree here. Yes originally orange puffballs were just there due to limitations but they're also iconic. There's some sense of mystique to them, the uknown that's lacking when you reveal all of them as 3D Models. Seeing Giant Baboon in 4 never really evoked the same emotions as staring into the unknown. For the 3d models in combat they also loose a lot of... Dynamism I'd say when it comes to combat. They're more rigid and their attacks feel stiff for me. Doesn't help they basically only have 2 animations for their attacks.

@Nic-Noc20th-C

Eh not really? 40$ for something that's definitely higher effort than say P3P remaster and what in original would cost you likely more?

Then again I'm probably also desensitized to the price rising considering basically everything went up where I live and by way more than games did.

I don't think 1-3 (originals) were easily accessible post DS era so the remasters are welcomed thing for me. And here's the hope it will least to new SQ/EO release in the future

@sanderev oh I didn't mean just 3DS games. I was talking in general. Before the Digital Storefronts became a thing getting a 2-3 year old game was a lottery since it was mostly out of print at that time.

Right kiddos buckle up since it's boomer time. Long story short? It sucks though at the very least we'll still have access to our libraries for foreseeable future. They're shutting down the storefront, but what you already got will stay with you for longer. 10 years huh? That's how long you could buy some of those games and you know? Even in worst case scenarios those games were available longer than many physical releases from before digital storefronts became a thing. Sure you can keep physical copies for longer assuming you do take care of them but actually getting them? 2-3 year window from release maybe longer if original print was higher. After that unless the distributor would do re-releases you're out getting second hand copies for increasingly higher price or just go for the grey zone.

@locky-mavo
According to Capcom it was impossible from technical standpoint. Unlike multiplatform mobile games (or Minecraft i guess) Mon Hun saves your data locally so you'd need to import the data directly from the Switch. Keep in mind that unlike Gen/GenU it's also two vastly different platforms.

Really folks? Can't you even read? The only things that change is that you no longer get to use your credit card directly and as mentioned in the article it's been a thing for two years already in Europe. You can still buy games just fine as long as you transfer the money.