Joe11

It'll be another Mario movie. They're printing money with these.

IMO, playing the original FF7 is essential for anyone interested in the history of video games as a medium. It's one of those very few games that can be said to have changed the course of history in game design.

Beyond the stellar plot/characters, OG FF7 has some pretty serious gameplay flaws that date it to the dawn of 3D RPGs. But the 3x speed & no encounter toggles in the Switch port pretty thoroughly alleviate these issues. That 3x speed makes it a pretty quick playthrough too—the Remake portion took me less than 4 hours.

Ooooh snap! To play the demo or to wait for the full uninterrupted experience... I've already got this one digitally preordered, and I don't do digital preorders!

I've long thought Metroid is the Nintendo franchise with the most potential for movie adaptation. I also think it would present a real possibility of drawing in new eyes and growing interest in the franchise. Space horror please!

Does "resolved progression blockers" refer to preventing crashes? I liked this game a lot, but the experience was tarnished (only a little) by the occasional crash, especially during the caterpillar boss fight (I think it crashed 3 times there).

Nights into Dreams needs at least a port to Switch. I've always wanted to play it, but it was pulled from Steam for some reason, so I've just been waiting. In the past, I haven't had great success with Saturn emulation, but maybe I'll just try that again?

Assassin's Creed Shadows. First time I've played any Assassin's Creed game, actually. I am a huge Sengoku period history nerd, so roaming around this slice of feudal Japan meeting (and killing?) historical personalities is a blast!

I've visited many of the in-game locations on various trips to Japan, so it's extra cool to see the in-game realizations of their pasts. And now I get to do things you're usually not allowed to do, like climb on top of Todaiji or ride a horse through the Imperial Palace koi pond 😂

MMOs are too addictive and endless, so I'll pass, even though I love Final Fantasy and Switch 2.

I just played Stray on Switch 2. The visuals and performance are already much improved from Switch 1 without an upgrade pack. That said, if the upgrade is free or close to free, I'll be ready for a replay to check it out!

All over the backlog (and updates) this weekend. Feels good to scratch items of the list!

I finally beat the secret boss and got the good ending for Hollow Knight, after giving up a year ago 😅 On top of that, I finally finished Stray and got the last keepsake I was missing in Hades 2. The next big "finishing" task is to wrap up Final Fantasy XII.

I'm also casually playing through Huntdown, which is hysterical, and I plan to check out the new DLC for Shinobi AoV.

I just played the 1st chapter demo (which was a very generous 9-10 hours), and I'm officially hooked. Looks like I've got a huge new series to tackle 😅

Super cool that they went big budget with a proper Bond movie theme. I didn't love it at first listen, but I'll let it marinate--I'm sure I'll come around.

Skyfall is my favorite theme, but I love so many of them. From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough... I used to jog around the Washington Monument after dark listening to the whole playlist 🏃🏻‍♂️🏛️🎧🎶

Delays for the purpose of ensuring a finer product aren't disappointing, they are heartening.

My beatemup wishlist/backlog is long anyway (Absolum & River City Girls are high up there).

"Poseidon now becomes increasingly enthusiastic as Sea Star activates more times"

☝🏻 Ok, that isn't what I thought I needed from an update, but it's absolutely what I needed! Time to hunt down that last keepsake, enjoy some more shenanigans... and some bath time with a daughter or two of Nyx 😎

@gusz I had a similar experience with Hades 1. I hadn't ever played a roguelike, but a friend recommended it highly... and it definitely didn't click. At the time I regretted the purchase. I gave it another chance a year later, though, and explored its systems a little more and got really hooked. There are a ton of challenges beyond progressing to the end of a run--that's kind of just the start of the game! I sunk well over 100 hours into Hades 2, and I think it was the best game of the year. (I still don't think I like roguelikes, though 😅)

How long is the World Stage campaign? In terms of hours, for a n00b. Trying to gauge how much single player content there is.

Blasphemous 2! I think the Blasphemii might be my favorite Metroidvaniae that I've played in the past 5 years (and I've played a ton). "Immaculate" mood and world building overlayed on surrealist satire of Spanish Catholicism, great voice acting, and satisfying deliberate combat that forces and rewards learning the game's systems.

UPDATE: Blasphemous 2 has game breaking bugs that can leave you soft locked 14 hours into the game. The Benedicta soft lock is well known and easily reproducible, but the devs haven't bothered to fix it despite knowing about it. They've lost a customer in me, and I've been an enthusiastic fan of their work.

I'm all over that Belmont's Curse. Looks like I'll be tuning in.

Glad to hear about the delay. It indicates the devs are taking performance seriously, and points toward a stronger product.

I think the NES and N64 games can be a little dated/rough and would stand the most to gain from a remake. OoT's story is so pivotal for the series in terms of lore, so I think that's the one to modernize! Either a QoL and visuals upgrade, or a more ambitious FF7 Remake approach that expands content (a bigger world would be amazing).

Skyward Sword might be an interesting target for an ambitious remake for similar reasons. Its story is similarly critical for lore, and a lot of gamers were put off by the motion controls. I think they're wrong--they just have a learning curve, but still... Also, I think the developers would like to expand this one with the capabilities of modern hardware.

Pragmata looks like the big story.

But I'm mouse curious, and wouldn't mind being a goat or a conbini employee for a while 🤔🐐🏪🐭

Finishing up the CrossCode DLC, which has been extremely worth it! Quite the good story hiding in this game (it was slow to develop for the first half).

And still chipping away everyday at the last remaining set tasks in WWE 2K25 Myfaction. For $20 (sale), I got a tremendous amount of value from this game!

Oh, and I just finished Adventure of Samsara, which was really neat, if a bit easy. I'd highly recommend it but for the fact that it crashed five times (total) across my playthrough.

6 months later I played it, and I disagree with almost all the takeaways here!

First, the game is not hard. It is a total breeze compared to Hollow Knight or Metroid Dread, for example. Only one boss took more than one try—the rest I beat on the first shot. The first couple low-level enemies you fight are hard, because you have to learn the parry system (hint: sound cues are important!), but the game really is pretty easy throughout. I have no idea what the reviewer is referring to in difficulty spikes. If anything, there's an anti-difficulty spike—it seems hard up front and then gets really easy after 1-2 hours.

Second, cheap deaths are nonexistent. There is real clarity to what you're doing and what went wrong—an upside of the deliberate controls. "Cheap knockback deaths?" You're hardly punished at all for falling! Fall into a pit? No problem, you'll respawn quite close by, and you lose about as much health as just getting hit once by an enemy.

Third: parkour-like platforming? The platforming is very mundane and takes a clear backseat to action. Again, Samsara's challenge in this vein is far lower than much of its genre.

Rigid inputs and lock animations are a feature not a bug. Fluidly responsive, "cancel-anything" mechanics are trendy in modern game design, but they're... cheap. If there is no consequence for mistakes, then you can get through the game without learning—without engaging with the game's systems and challenges.

I only had two complaints with the game (which I liked!), but they are pretty significant:

1) My game crashed 5 times (twice on the caterpillar boss), causing me to lose progress. The replays were fairly quick since the game isn't hard, but this was quite frustrating.

2) The denouement was really flat. It almost seemed like they planned more but ran out of time. The game ended abruptly! And motivations/implications were not explored. A bummer—I was enjoying the admittedly elusive story.

All in all, a really cool game with very unique art & mood. Clear inspirations from Blasphemous and to a lesser extent HK. I would recommend it heartily but for the bugs/crashes. Given that issue, I'd recommend it only to dedicated genre fans.

If you give it a try, push through that first hour, which is slow—it really picks up.

I bought a lot of amiibo when they were $15, and a few at $20. But yeah, I'm out!

The prices of everything are going to spike from supply chain disruptions in the Gulf that affect upstream manufacturing input costs. Not just oil and gas but also processed chemicals. But the price pressure on console manufacturers is a triple whammy from erratic tariff "policy" and skyrocketing chip costs associated with the data center investment boom.

If you can, buy something off your hardware wishlist sooner rather than later! Switch 2 is a great upgrade from Switch 1. I wouldn't wait on it 🤓

@carlos82 My understanding of these time-limited events (from other series/developers) is that they're intended to create FOMO to drive sales.

Game Key Card means no buy from me.

That was the wildest game trailer I think I've ever watched 😅

@EriXz Pokopia actually isn't a first-party game. Nintendo is a co-owner of Pokemon media, but it does not develop the games itself. Typically, the developer is Game Freak. In Pokopia's case, it's Omega Force, which is indeed using GKCs.

@EriXz Actually, all first-party Nintendo Switch 2 games are confirmed to have true physical releases. And this article is only in reference to first-party games. The game key cards are being used only be third party publishers.

I'll confess I clicked on this only because I figured there would be lots of toxic comments to rubberneck at 😎

Trying out Switch 2 boost mode via Chrono Cross! Also checking out the awesome free upgrade for Divinity Original Sin 2, which is just a huge improvement for handheld.

Otherwise, wrapping up CrossCode DLC (what a game!), and trying to finish the last few World Tour matches in WWE 2K25. A couple of those Nagoya matches are cheap, blatantly unfair, ridiculous rage bait lol.

I've been meaning to try their new burger...

And toys are most definitely now for adults too. Millennials and younger

Hell yeah! My GotY 2025? I'm in!

As others have mentioned, other sites have given this much higher reviews and emphasized that the single player additions were much more substantial than they anticipated, and much more significant than the fairly shallow multiplayer content. Training camp is supposed to provide high difficulty challenges, addressing one of my main complaints with the base game.

I was shocked to see Game Informer (who I trust more to do a thorough playthrough before reviewing--sorry guys) gave it 9.25. I'll be picking this up, although I absolutely didn't expect to.

This really looks fabulous. I've been working on the backlog, but... I might have to jump into this one. I am very interested by the fact that they draw on Balinese folklore for inspiration.

I don't think this is an indicator of price rises, because it seems like a response to weak sales.

Why hasn't digital been cheaper all along? Lower production and distribution costs? Not to mention externalities associated with production and disposal... Was it to keep retailers happy? Presumably Nintendo has way higher margins in the Nintendo Store than physical at Amazon.

Also, physical is straightforwardly much more valuable than digital, because it can be resold.

Very ironically, the best deals these days on Switch 2 games seem to be GKCs on sale via Amazon/Walmart. The prices are going lower than the Nintendo Store ever goes, and they can be resold.

It's possible to use this without an NSO subscription? Don't you have to be playing online with someone? I think I'm missing something.

I'd miss the M shape. The middle grip sets your thumb below and precisely in line with the thumb stick, which makes it easier to control direction in 3d platformers.

And the games were calibrated to this setup. I find it more challenging to use modern controllers for tough platforming Mario 64 and Castlevania 64, for example, with the diagonal offset of grip relative to thumbstick.

The left grip did seem like plastic waste, though. Maybe a ん shaped controller could work...?

Decreasing quality for consumers to increase shareholder profits is a profoundly short-term strategy. These sleazeballs are cannibals.

One of the reasons we're all Nintendo fans around here is that the company ethos has prioritized brand loyalty, fortunately. And it's likely a significant factor behind Nintendo's profitability over a very long run.

Haha, Shinobi obviously needs Sonic crossover dlc. I'm in!

This looks really fun. Focus on single player--no multiplayer--is a big plus in my book and kind of rare in the FPS genre. There's a demo, I hear?...

RTS is one genre where I wonder if I wouldn't prefer to play this on PC. I wonder how the experience compares--not just in terms of graphical performance, but in ease of control.

Just want to chime in to say Chained Echoes was a wonderful game and a great value even at full price for digital ($25). Clearly a labor of love from a small independent developer. It's easily one of the best games I've played in the past year, and I would go so far as to say it's the best retro-JRPG-styled game of the past 5+ years. Highly recommend it, and I'm pretty sure the people who actually make the games get a better return on digital sales... Hint hint.

@CooCooKaChoo Why ain'tcha buyin?

Sticking to the backlog, possibly until FF7 Rebirth comes out! Almost done with CrossCode, but I honestly don't want it to end--it's so good. Aside from that, I'm still checking in a little bit each day on WWE 2K25, Virtual Boy Wario Land (hard to play for more than 20 mins at a time!), and uber-obscure Adventure of Samsara.

Jury's still out on the last one, but I like difficult search action games, and I'm intrigued by the Hindu allusion, Brazilian origin, and golden-era Atari tie-in. It reminds me way more of Faxanadu than OG Adventure, though!

Penguin and Rooster Saga, obviously 🐣

Nintendo, you underestimate my patience to wait for a better sale 😎

Very curious about this one, as I heard it's rooted in Southeast Asian, in particular Balinese culture! I'm always looking for games that draw on cultural traditions outside of the usual Japanese and Northern European inspirations.

I'll be playing all three of these! I've long been curious about VB Mario Tennis. Emphasis on the "long."

Looks like Resident Evil is getting lots of love this weekend, but I've got a backlog to attend to!

Continuing to enjoy the wacky, uncomfortable Virtual Boy cardboard experience in short bursts. I'm trying to get the hang of Red Alarm rn, which I've found challenging and antiquated but worthwhile.

Otherwise it's a lot of MyGM on WWE 2K25.

And also CrossCode - an excellent, challenging, modern take on a 16/32-bit-era action RPG. I put this one down for a long time after getting about halfway through, but it feels good to get back to it!