JasmineDragon

I really really want this, for maybe $25.

I don't play the game, but I might have to buy that plushie. Godzilla plushies don't come around very often, and this one's pretty cute.

@somebread This happens a lot when NLife do the "Twitter responds to latest atrocity" thing. Somehow the Twitter feed is exempt from all the family-friendly guidelines this site generally follows.

@russell-marlow I don't know, it's news to me if it has it. I was never much of a Smash player, so it might have a lot of features I'm not aware of.

Good for them. I'm not into Minecraft, but I applaud the stance.

@BloodNinja I know what you mean, I remember trying to explain Harvest Moon to other people in the Gamecube era and most of them thought I was on drugs.

It's true though, there hasn't been much innovation in the genre since it was conceived. The entire genre is pretty much the same as the earliest Harvest Moon games. New crops, different animals, a new cast of marriage candidates, same gameplay.

Honestly, having grown up in a farming community of about 400 people (peak population at harvest time) I'm not sure I like the idea of a lot of realism on my farming games. It's not a bad life, but it's monotonous to an extreme and can be extremely lonely. Gamifying and diversifying the farm routine is the only way to make it a fun gaming experience. Even Sakuna, which had a very detailed and realistic rice farming system, also had you playing as an adorably bratty minor goddess who went off to fight demons in between farm chores.

@Ryu_Niiyama @KateGray On the same note, I'm all for giving NPCs distinct orientations and gender identities for better storytelling purposes, but this creates a whole new problem for a life sim in that realistically it severely limits your pool of potential partners. If a game has, say, a dozen romance candidates and they're going for realism, you have what? One lesbian, one gay man and maybe one nonbinary person of a random orientation?

Of course they can stretch the numbers for the sake of a better game, but I would guess at most you're going to have maybe three lesbian options (one who is trans), two gay males and one ace who is probably the nonbinary character.

I'm not knocking the representation if that's the case, and that works great for a regular RPG, but for a farm/life/sim game I think I prefer the "all candidates are bi" approach. I'm recalling how Fire Emblem Three Houses played, the lesbian options in my House were Dorothea or a psychotic powermonger. And Dorothea was... okay, I guess, but she still wasn't the girl I wanted.

This game has me curious anyway, because there's room for both kinds of games in my world, but I'm still on the fence.

@CharlieGirl This seems like witchcraft to me, but it is definitely a brilliant idea with a lot of uses in competitive gaming. I can see this being a requisite feature for future fighting games.

@TheBigK Can I @ you if I agree? I love it, never understood all the "worst Mario game" talk. I feel like I played a whole different game from some of the people on this site.

Why do so many people think it's weird to have two (or more) articles about an important mainline game in one of Nintendo's top franchises on the game's 20th anniversary? A lot of games get this treatment on their anniversaries, and this is a Super Mario game. Fair to make a big deal about it, IMO.

(Also, still one of my favorite games from the Gamecube and very underrated in my opinion. I'm aware that it has mad janky parts and is not as polished as, say, Odyssey. But it's still tons of fun to play. No other 3D Mario game has drawn me in as long or as enjoyably as Sunshine. I can see greatness in all of them, but Sunshine is the only one I spent months trying to finish.

@PhhhCough It's decent but FLUDD is harder to control. I like it overall, and Sunshine on the Cube is my favorite Mario game, but not having analog triggers hurts the port. And I haven't played far enough on the Switch to know if all the camera issues have been fixed.

@Orokosaki I have good news for you, on August 1 they are releasing a remake of the famed Galaxy Explorer set. Classic Space has not been forgotten.

@dcstud There are always more of us around than anyone thinks. It's hilarious to see all the older peeps suddenly come out of the woodwork when there is an article about our first video games, just to say "I played SPACE INVADERS at the mall, beat that young'uns!!" (And then there's always some old dude who goes "lol, PONG".)

Star Wars at the cinema, Dungeons and Dragons at home, and first gen video games at the mall. That's like half of my childhood memories.

I'm so hesitant to jump on this, because even though the first two Oddworld games were absolute God-Tier PS1 games, I've heard nothing but negativity about every game they've released since then - and I never had the consoles they were on, so I wouldn't know myself, but people I trust and big fans of the original games said to stay away.

There was also some kerfuffle with the series creator a couple of years ago, where he said there was no way Oddworld games were coming to the Switch. He was extremely negative and insulting about it. So I'm disinclined to buy these games now that he's decided he actually does want my money.

@Freek Mine was Space Invaders (arcade), too. What a phenomenon that was!

That!! Is a whole lot! Of exclamation points!!!

@Krull Not 100% clear whether you know this or not, but it's not a coincidence that the logo on the Switch version is so big, and if you feel like you're missing out, it's intentional. They made the logo like that to hide Cammy's rear end in a thong, which is dead center of the original artwork.

I was always going physical for this, but the file size makes it that much more important.

@Teksetter I've known it was pronounced tah-tey for decades, and literally every time I say it out loud what comes of my mouth is TAYT. I can't get the Tate Museum out of my head.

I also say liv a liv even though I know it's wrong.

I love keeping notebooks (and, yes, journals). I've always had a journal going since I was in the army, and most of them are half gaming notes. I have so much fun writing down hints and drawing THE WORST maps (I am a decent artist but a crap cartographer). But I always forget to write down crucial stuff, and I'm tremendously disorganized, so my gaming notes are not super useful.

I think Hollow Knight is more notebook-worthy than most games, partly because that map is confusing as hell and partly because it's so freaking sketchable. The characters are all begging to be sketches in a notebook.

@Gs69 I've fallen for Andro Duros 2 so hard it isn't even funny. It stands a chance of being my game of the year. So glad I discovered it.

I'm playing some Andro Dunos 2, wrapping up a game of Civilization VI and might get back to Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk some time today. I'll try to get in a session oe two of Ring Fit Adventure, but honestly I'm feeling extra lazy today, so no promises.

I also started reading the Lord of the Rings again, and I'll need to find some time for packing this weekend as we are going to Peru in one week.

Yeah, it's definitely a store or park display, not a set for sale. That would cost the same as a squadron of Star Destroyers and a new pickup truck to bring them home in.

Shame, i just hope they're not setting the bear too high to pass.

I honestly don't care about Directs and rarely watch them. I'll read the recaps and watch some of the trailers, but I don't feel any burning need to tune in and watch a 45 minute publicity piece. As long as they keep on making and announcing games, I'm good either way.

@nessisonett That's the one!

@Losermagnet Russian urban fantasy / slipstream with a dark streak. Witches and angels and vampires through a filter of Russian folktales and science fiction. I think it's a very safe recommendation for a Mieville fan.

@Losermagnet Definitely something I could get into. I just have to clear out some current games first.

It sounds like you would enjoy the Watch series, have you read those?

@SteamEngenius I usually comment to disagree with you, but on this we are 100%.

Mind you, sometimes it's why not both?

@Switch_Pro I hope that was an IT Crowd quote, but you get my vote either way.

I still haven't bought this myself. It's definitely the top sports game I want to buy, but... it's a sports game and that will never be my top priority, so as long as an occasional good RPG or shmup or management sim comes along, Strikers will probably keep on being "the next game I'm buying" until I see it on deep discount.

@Losermagnet Your book recommendations are certainly on point! I am more inclined than ever to buy Disco Elysium now, as the City and the City is an absolute masterpiece.

Haven reminded me of Saga from the very first screenshot I saw.

Twin Peaks is a harder pairing, not that it doesn't pair well with LIS but the fact is Twin Peaks influenced so many creators that there are about one thousand games that pair well with it, and probably dozens of them that wear their inspiration on their sleeve. Whether it's a character randomly quipping "damn fine coffee" or an entire game cribbing from the Lynch/Frost playbook like Deadly Premonition.

Skyrim goes well with Beowulf (read the Seamus Heaney version if you can).

Paradise Killer synchs nicely with Max Gladstone's "Craft Sequence". Not a one-to-one equivalent by any means, but you'll get what I mean once you start digging into the Craft books.

Kitaria Fables, Redwall. (Again, a lot of things go with Redwall as it was one of the formative "animal fantasy" series.)

Darkest Dungeon demands to be played while reading HP Lovecraft. But don't blame me if the narrators in Lovecraft's books all start to sound like DD's "Ancestor" in your head.

I just feel like I have to get in here with a "well done, Nintendo!" before the comments get closed.

Well done, Nintendo.

Adding immediately to my shmup collection. Being a dragon is never not fun.

I'm interested for sure. I love crafting and have a real soft spot for alchemists and healers. This seems very worthy. The timing kind of sucks for them with a certain Square Enix game coming out two weeks later, but I'll still buy this.

This is 100% "you had me at Hello".

@Bucket You gotta start planning right now for winter projects if you're anything like me. I am the official World's Slowest Crafter. I'm thinking about Halloween projects right after I finish the cardigan.

@Madao I think this is the crucial factor here. Any game that leaned on multiplayer with a second gamepad would have had a severely limited pool of customers. They did a few things like that in the Cube era and it was disastrous in terms of sales. Now that games cost so much more to develop there was no way they were going to take that chance.

If they'd kept selling the Wii U long enough, we might have seen those games come out. But it was fait accompli when the console tanked so quickly.

@Silly_G You're so right. Download play and Streetpass were two of the coolest features of the DS family. They made traveling with a 3DS so much fun. I love my Switch, but I really miss those features.

@Gs69 It really is something special. It's been a while since a shmup drew me in so quickly. It's beautifully made and the difficulty is just right. I kind of wish I'd bought the EU physical version, but that would be double the price. (It's on sale on the eShop right now).

I discovered Andro Dunos 2 the other night and I'm in love. Just one more run... that didn't count... one more time... LAST ONE I SWEAR!

I'll bounce between that and Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk, in which I just got into the second realm.

In addition, I'll be wrapping up my sweater today. I've finished crocheting it, all that's left is sewing the parts together, putting buttons on and weaving in loose ends. Might add pockets, not sure yet.

@Kiwi_Unlimited Well, I dare say they could make some valuable contributions to the medical field while helping to support our mission to study and preserve these noble animals, don't you think?

Me: proud of myself if I can replace a fuse.

This Guy: makes miniature working game consoles by hand in his spare time.

I love this and want to marry it. There is so much potential in Gollum's story if this is made with love, and it looks like it is. He is a strong contender for best character in the Lord of the Rings, and his story could be more interesting to play than any of the heroes' tales. It can also make this one of the coolest games to play, with tremendous vertical action and stealth.

The trailer does a great job selling it, too. Sure, it's not Andy Serkis, but it sounds like Gollum, the music is killing it and it looks beautiful.

This looks like something I could get into.

@Kiwi_Unlimited Scientific experimentation, you say? 👀🤝

This looks very interesting. I do like the approach a lot of games are trying lately of using board game and card game conventions for story based gameplay. Not sure I'm going to bite on this one, but the premise is pretty cool.

Beautiful set but my cutoff point for Lego sets is $200 except for a select few things, and Bowser isn't one of them.

I'd be much more excited about a new Viva Pinata, personally. I loved the DS game.

I'm just not sold on any of it except for the Joy-Cons, which I don't want.

I don't know why Nintendo seem to be having such difficulty designing special edition Pro controllers and Switches. The MHR Sunbreak is decent but not great, and all the other ones they've come out with just look anemic, like they were knockoffs. This is Nintendo, their designs should be bold and colorful and more Nintendo-y. This is the company that gave us gold Wiimotes for Zelda, translucent Atomic Purple GBCs and the stunning Aqua 3DS. I don't know what happened.

Oh hey, it's one of the five basketball players I know!

@BlackenedHalo That literally has nothing to do with the age of the reviewer. Back in the day it was common for computer games to have printed manuals with hundreds of pages. The manual for Baldur's Gate II is 263 pages - and the last page includes phone numbers for the official hint line. (Yes, I saved my manuals - at least for some games).