JohnnyC

Started Pikmin 4 last week. Loving the more relaxed gameplay having completed the other three over the last year. Will be carrying on with this, and booting up the N64 app to brush up on Banjo ahead of the sequel on Friday.

"The ideal candidate should be immune to the cries of distressed children/animals and have at least 5 years membership in the NRA."

@FoxyDude Just a joke mate, about how I've yet to hit 1st place. Nothing wrong with the game.

Still waiting for them to patch problems where other racers keep appearing in front of me. 🙄

I'm guessing DS is coming to NSO, or maybe 64 DD. DS more likely as that would need more testing for the two-into-one solutions. Can't see GameCube/Wii happening until the Switch's successor, and also because those games are an easier option for premium ports/remasters/remakes.

@Zach Same, I'll be all over that if/when it comes to NSO.

A top-tier PS4 game still looks great, so this isn't a shock as while I haven't played a Sonic game in a while, none of the footage I've seen suggests they're as demanding on the hardware as the likes of Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part II, Gran Turismo 7 etc. Developers can't afford to make games that push PS5 hardware to its full capabilities unless they're confident it will be a hit. To be honest I've not played many games on the PS5 yet that don't feel like they could run on a PS4. Granted, I have a PS4 Pro so maybe that's why the lines are a bit more blurred.

After a long break (according to my save file, the last time I played was January) I'm back on Tears of the Kingdom. After beating all the shrines and a good number of the side quests/adventures last year, I got distracted with a few other games in my backlog in the intervening months, all of which I've thoroughly enjoyed, but decided that now is the time to introduce Ganondorf to the pointy end of a sacred blade.

Whatever, I'm starting one. My uncle's cousin's drinking buddy's imaginary friend picked his nose outside Nintendo's warehouse 284 days ago, and is absolutely certain that if you put the Switch 2 into a microwave for 3 minutes it plays the iconic Super Mario Bros. theme.

The critics seem to love the game, but have all criticised the frame rate. Hopefully the patch goes some way to addressing that, as it really shouldn't be a problem for a 2D game built on what looks like at least a 5-year-old template in 2024.

Finally finished the main Pikmin 3 Deluxe campaign, with all fruit recently. Not a difficult game, just kept getting distracted with other things. Working on some of the side missions, and once done I may finally treat myself to Pikmin 4, having completed Pikmin 1 + 2 earlier in the year. Otherwise, challenge rooms on Arkham Asylum and mopping up the Skywalker Saga, which currently sits at 96% complete.

@Poodlestargenerica Apparently there's more than 6 billion people either unable or unwilling to buy it, based on it having shifted just over 60 million copies. Similar number as haven't bought Minecraft and GTAV.

And with that useless bit of data, I'm off for a burger.

Switch bundles in time for Chrisrmas??? What sorcery is this!?!

Physical copy, without a doubt. 1st-party A-list Nintendo titles are always worth having a physical copy of.

Splatoon 3 for the Grand Splatfest. Enjoy!

Good game, and with the content you get via NSO, more content than most of us mortals can get through in a year.

@stinkyx Probably a day or two before Mario Kart launches on a Sony console.

I don't much care. A good game is a good game. Astro's Playroom was delightful, and I'm glad to hear that by all accounts this is excellent. Planning to have both this and the new Zelda before the end of the year.

You know what had brilliant box art? Radar Mission. To my shame I threw away the box, as I just kept my game boy games in those plastic cases they came with. I really regret that.

@batmanbud2 Maybe creatively, but I'm struggling to see what's immoral about the trailer.

The filmmakers appear to have treated this as a blank canvas to build upon, and in fairness isn't that true to the spirit of the game?

Finally completed Pikmin 2 this week, so going back to Pikmin 3 Deluxe to 100% that. Also continuing to chip away at Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga whose overall completion is at 93% now.

Scary thought, but we're as far from the launch of the 3DS now as people in 2002 were from the launch of the original Game Boy.

@Pastellioli They've tended to have something for expansion pack and something for regular NSO each month, though so far in August it's been expansion pack only in the form of that GBA Pokémon game.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Been playing it off and on for a couple of years, and the end is finally in sight. I've got everything in the hub environments, so just mopping up the collectables in the levels now. Not difficult, just takes a while.

Tetris 99 for the new theme, and trying to 100% Pikmin 2.

I want another Traveller's Tales Lego game. Those guys knew what they were doing. Formulaic but fun.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"

@nukatha Thinking the same. It's a 15-year-old game, can't imagine it would be a stretch to include it.

Dusted off the Wii U tonight and played Mario Party 10 and Nintendo Land with the family. Fun times.

If it launches with a new 3D Mario, Mario Kart 9 or a new 3D Zelda, day-1. Otherwise, carrying on with the backlog. I only bought one console in my life for the sake of the console and for the first 6 months of owning it, I regretted it (PS2, had nothing worth playing in 2000, the good stuff came from 2001 onwards, mainly used it as a dvd player at the beginning).

Capcom does a good job with their packaging and artwork. Love my Street Fighter 6 steel book.

Particularly with the Street Fighter series, they love to show off their artwork via in-game collectibles too.

I can get behind this, though I still remember being blown away by the visuals in Super Mario Odyssey. Above and beyond my expectations.

Brilliant game. Deserved to do a lot better than it did.

European version would have caught my eye as a kid when NES games were on shop shelves. The pixel artwork put me off buying Super Mario Bros 1 and instead focusing on Mario Bros 2 and 3.

At the time it wasn't retro, it just looked cheap. No, I don't think like that any more, just saying how I saw it at the time. The power of good marketing on a primary-school-age child!

Splatoon 3, gearing up for the next Splatfest. Not really touched it for several weeks, nice to be playing it again.

Fine with patches in big games. They do their best, but with bigger and more complex games it's just not possible to anticipate and test every scenario prior to release.

What I don't like (and thankfully, what we don't see with Nintendo) is using patches as a crutch for rushing out a half-a***d effort. Cyberpunk and the GTA Trilogy are two of the most recent and infamous examples, but there are many others.

@quinnyboy58 Probably intended to be a knife crime deterrent, assuming it was metal with a sharp point and not a plastic toy, but I can't see imprisonment for possessing a plastic sword happening so I suspect the former.

Personally I'm not bothered if it's themed like Zelda or any other franchise, if someone you don't know is out in public carrying a 6-inch blade for all to see, it's reasonable and sensible these days to assume the worst. This guy just lacked basic common sense.

I haven't bought a Switch game this year, or a game on any format. The last new games I got were at Christmas, when I got Hogwarts Legacy (PS5), Jedi Survivor, Spidey 2 and Mario Wonder. This year was initially about beating those and then ended up being largely a year for blasting the backlog, which I've very much enjoyed.

Got a holiday coming up, so planning to get either Pikmin 4 or Luigi's Mansion 2 as a treat. Next new Switch games on my radar are Zelda: Echoes and the new Mario Party.

@Smackosynthesis The Hoth battle was breathtaking in those early trailers for the N64. That and the footage of Mario spinning Bowser around.

To this day, the leap from 2D to 3D has been the biggest "wow" moment I can recall computer game history.

I want Starfighter. That was a fun launch-window tech-demo game for the PS2. Oh, and the Rogue trilogy and Shadows of the Empire. Yes, I know Shadows of the Empire was a pain to play even back in the day and the years won't have done it any favours, but I liked the story, and the flying levels were great.

Happy with the Expansion Pack, as long as N64/GBA games keep getting added monthly. We've had good value from the Animal Crossing and Mario Kart dlc too. I already owned the Splatoon 2 dlc when it was added to the bundle.

Mine is due in October, and currently I'm unsure whether I'll be renewing. Not Nintendo's fault, but like a lot of people I'm asking the question "can I live without this?" about a lot of things at the moment due to the way things are going with bills, and unlikely to change under the next government.

I remember when I completed all the panels I had on the go. Proper chuffed!

Then I started getting pieces for new ones, and now I've got at least half a dozen with just a few pieces. Gave up on this years ago though.

Yay! Still wishing for a Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Breath of the Wild theme. Never gonna happen at this point, sadly. Fingers crossed for OS themes on the Switch 2.

Buying it physical so not an issue. That way it also has some trade-in value for when either I or the Switch are dead.

I just like looking at a nice collection on the shelf, which honestly is the main reason for me.

I still go and buy physical games. A lot of the time, their discounted and new titles were fairly consistent with online prices. If there was a saving of more than a fiver to be had, I'd go online.

Smyths is the best physical game retailer now in my opinion, now that Game seems to be dead. Decent selection of titles and good prices.

While I wait for the new Zelda in September (probably the first game I'll be buying in 2024), I'm continuing my backlog. Pikmin 2 on Switch, and nearly finished a Crushing difficulty playthrough of Uncharted 4.

Edit: Also playing some N64 games via the NSO apps. Tried Perfect Dark for the first time, but have no idea what I'm doing. I know we have the internet and can look things up, but would it kill Nintendo to scan the old manuals that came with the games as they did on the Wii VC?

I missed Conker first time round. The rest, I'd give a go if they were added to the app but can't say I'm desperate to play any of them.

When it finishes, please caption the results article with "did you get very far?"

About 10 years ago we got Lego Lord of the Rings and Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor within the space of a couple of years, both very good games.

A decade of technological leaps and bounds and what do we get? Gollum and Return to Moria. Hopefully this bucks the trend, but sadly it doesn't look like it to me at least. Happy to be proven wrong if and when it's hailed as a classic.