Kalcheus

As is tradition, Level 5 will celebrate its 27th Anniversary several months late.

My kid finished the main and side quests and only had ~250 battles done so the 1000 requirement is pretty ludicrous imo.

Besides Storm Lancers there was nothing else of interest to me until the surprise Fire Emblem reveal at the end which turned a 4 into a 6. Would've gotten a 7 or 8 if Professor Layton had been involved.

Honestly besides the new Fire Emblem game this is the game I'm most likely to pick up from everything shown.

Any news on the next Professor Layton

Could we get a Professor Layton release date trailer? Or any sort of trailer? Or is Professor Layton not considered 3rd-party?

I just know people are going to use this as evidence we're getting a Nintendo Direct

How is this not more evidence of a Nintendo Direct this month?

I feel like we're not giving enough props to the Nintendo supply chain department. The reason it's broken so many records is they had enough consoles available to meet demand.
Hopefully Sony has learned the lesson for the PS6: don't set a release date based on when you complete your first manufacturing run.

I'm surprised we didn't get a Professor Layton update.

I would just like a release date for the new Professor Layton.

But will it star the Missile Commander from Yars Rising?

I'm happier about the fact that Slay the Princess is in the new Friends of Jimbo pack

Glad to see Afterlove EP getting attention (RIP Fahmi), although I'll likely get it on Steam.

Glad that Surgent Studios is still active, I was a bit worried.

@cmbaum yeah, I was going to say this. The drop is probably motivated by lack of release date info. I don't think there's anything more to read in this.

@Spider-Kev https://www.theverge.com/24343913/paypal-honey-megalag-coupon-scam-affiliate-fees

@antdickens thanks for the response! Sorry for the negativity, but again, Honey.

While I don't want to accuse NL of anything, in light of the Honey revelation I would like y'all to explicitly state if and how the site generates revenue by providing this service. If you don't (outside visits to your webpage generating ad revenue) I think you should state that as well.
Again, I'm not accusing you of anything deceptive, I just think in the current climate y'all should be up front on what you potentially gain from this.
Thanks

I'm interested, but two things are stopping me from getting it next week:
1) The price, as others have alluded to
2) I still have barely played Tropical Freeze, so when I get the DKC urge I can just play that

I wonder if the reverse is possible, i.e. an og Switch in a Switch 2 dock

Occam's Razor time: they're not announcing it until they're 100% ready to deliver on what they announce because they are a publicly-traded company. If they announce a 2025 release date and it slips to 2026 it would really hurt the stock price. They're just making sure all t's are crossed and i's are dotted before announcing.

@Serpenterror Nintendo clearly said that ... after they were already expected to announce it. All indications are that the Switch successor was supposed to be revealed in 2024 but that Nintendo delayed it. As a result, it wouldn't be surprising if the NDAs were written around that expectation.
As for when it's going to release, I suspect that the current Nintendo stock price is dictated by a 2025 release; delaying until 2026 will — without sufficient explanation — more than likely hurt the company.

Fun fact about NDAs: they pretty much always have an end date on them. With the fact that the Switch 2 announcement has been delayed, it's more than likely that the NDA has already expired.
Of course, 90% of companies are still going to be quiet because they don't want Nintendo to keep them out of the next round (which they would be in their rights to do). But apparently Genki does not care.

@Vexx234 and Ollie: Shadow wasn't created by Robotnik in Sonic 3. He was found in a meteorite in the movie canon and has been in suspended animation for 50 years (more things happen between being found and imprisoned, but it would spoil the movie to say what).

Where's Elite Beat Agents?!?

Slay the Princess is a phenomenal game but I'll be playing the Pristine Cut on PC. That said, I got the Switch collector's edition pre-ordered, just waiting for it to arrive early next year.

This just reminds me that I still haven't played Gris. So little time!

@Jiggies just imagine he's in Kingsman

Some sort of confirmation?
https://x.com/laurakbuzz/status/1836010213423394984

With TGS next week I think Nintendo might not have a choice but to announce it this week. I bet there's a bunch of partners waiting to announce their launch games for the system but have had to hold off because of the delay.

I for one welcome our new Spider Waifu overlord

Definitely going to be buying Afterlove EP. Loved Coffee Talk and was so sad to hear about Fahmi's passing.

@rvcolem1 I've played it and loved it. It's a really gorgeous game. Gameplay-wise it's different enough to not be a cookie-cutter metroidvania but it's not revolutionary. I'd balk if it was a $60 game, but for $20 (now $15)? Absolute bargain.

Disappointing to hear about the problems on the Switch, as on the Steam Deck it's been pretty smooth. I do agree that for a metroidvania it's not doing anything revolutionary in terms of gameplay, but the art/music/story really elevates it.

Been playing this on the Steam Deck all week and it runs great. The game visuals and music are amazing. Gameplay is your typical metroidvania but with some cool effects. In comparison to say Metroid Dread (base difficulty), it's easier — with less combat, slightly more puzzles — although I haven't encountered a boss fight yet so it's possible those will be more difficult. I'm not sure how long the game is (I've played 3.5 hours and I've yet to complete Act 1) but it's definitely not a quick game. And it's inexpensive. Unless things fall off drastically or it ends up only being 8 hours long it's my GotY so far.

Persona Q/Q2
... is Metroid Pinball available on the Switch, I really enjoyed that
And definitely Elite Beat Agents

Huh, they added Haru to the game

ESPN the OCHO!

@Rozetta I disagree. In the PC world there are zillions of titles competing for attention, and VNs are low on the totem pole for most gamers. As a result there are a bunch of really good VN games out there that almost no one has played.

Anyone else concerned that they're planning a launch that coincides with a product and date they now claim to have no knowledge of? So does that mean AI Shark is not launching in Sep 2024?

Nintendo Stand Firm™

Debating between Toshiro and Erina in Persona 5 Tactica

It was nominated for Games for Impact at TGA23 so I wouldn't say nobody was talking about it. But yeah, it doesn't seem to be getting as much attention as it probably should.

Sephiroth, no doubt. The Mario "stab" was epic.

It needs backward compatibility if they expect me to buy it before 2027.

"Though there aren’t any difficulty mode options, you can take the edge off by spending blue gems in an upgrade shop, netting you boons like a faster recall for Mjolnir or a slower countdown when your heart leaps out."

Pardon my cynicism, but this is an ingame shop, not a currency microtransaction system, right?

I played the demo for this during NextFest, was interesting and definitely worth the price it's going to sell for.

@Scooby-Doo Joker, Oracle, Queen, Crow, and Panther already have candles. You can buy them as a 5-pack for $5 off.

As I've not played TotK yet I can not choose it. I'll have to go with Octopath Traveler 2.

That said, I found Fire Emblem: Engage very mediocre, I do not understand why it would come up in the conversation unless there's something in the DLC that salvages it (I put 40+ hours in the base game but didn't get the DLC).