Kaze_Memaryu

No singleplayer in a Zelda game, of all things. It's not like the multiplayer in the Four Swords game was that fun to begin with, but this is really taking it far. I really wonder what audience Nintendo is trying to reach here...

@VanillaLake That's actually an interesting way to take the current trend in an optimistic way! I like it!

Aaand more Senran Kagura 2 DLC! Hipster was awful, so I hope this pack holds up better.
Also, gotta pre-order Dragon Ball Z. Best DB fighter since the Budokai games!

Hm, nothing too schocking, but I guess speedrun categories for this game will be divided into pre-patch and post-patch, then.

@TsukiDeity But you still cannot do whatever you want. You still have no access to any other facilities, you cannot enjoy a normal day, and you have no home of your own to do whatever you want.
The charm isn't lost, and that's not really what I meant to begin with, since that charm mostly comes from the plethora of characters. But the spirit of the entire Animal Crossing franchise was to not tell you what to do, but leave everything to your whim.
That isn't the case here. You can only decorate other peoples rooms, or in other words, the entire point of the game is to meet expectations, even if it's by no means strict on that. But even though the game is very easy and laid back, it still imposes a limitation on the player that goes against the spirit of how Animal Crossing was always displayed. And theoretically, that limitation isn't even necesseray, since this game easily could've been an optional part of an actual Animal Crossing game.

To run it down to the basics: despit being the latest part of the Animal Crossing franchise, it adds very little, but subtracts much more. And even by its own merits, HHD doesn't have much to offer, which is actually confusing, since the foundations to add a lot more depth and meat to the whole game are absolutely present, but remain unused for no sensible reason.
I'm not saying this game can't be fun, but critically speaking, it lacks way too much substance and individual choice for an Animal Crossing title.

@JudgeMethos This. Is there really nothing more substantial to report than "OMG super hard Mario Maker level"? Additionally, why is everyone making such a fuss about that? There are ROMhacks out there that laugh about this stuff. No matter how "hard" a SMM level is, it's always very much possible - otherwise the creator couldn't even upload it.

@Spectra_Twilight I suppose you have a point there. It might simply be a subjective matter, in the end, just like most things. And it's not like the game is bombing. It's actually selling very well, so regardless of haters, fans, critics, and whatever, Nintendo will see the sales figures as a positive sign, and maybe even the start of a spinoff-series to the Animal Crossing franchise.

Yeah, that's what I expected. Many AC fans I know will pass up on this one, and who can blame them?

@Spectra_Twilight There are the folks who want the same everytime, but Happy Home Designer has different issues. The problem isn't that it's a spinoff, the problem is that it completely ignores what makes Animal Crossing popular: freedom. Animal Crossing never forces you to do anything, and never pinpoints you towards a specific objective. That means you can make your town exactly as you want to, and play it without any kinds of definite restrictions.
Happy Home Designer took Animal Crossing, removed the entire gameplay from it, and then shoehorned a interior design simulator into that. The genre simpky doesn't fit with Animal Crossing, as Happy Home Designer has nothing except specific objectives for gameplay. You have no choices for yourself, and there are specific expectations from the game that the player is tasked with.
Basically, Happy Home Designer is the polar opposite of Animal Crossing, and even a spinoff shouldn't twist and mangle the base concept beyond recognition. It's not a bad game, but it wants to be an Animal Crossing game, and as that, it fails miserably to captivate any of the charm that the series is known for.

Pachter had the right headline, but dear god, is his article delusional.

I do agree that this will be the last actual gaming console cycle, but for entirely different reasons. And, without trying to sound too mean, convenience is going to be their end.
Basically, people don't want consoles to remain consoles. A game console is a device dedicated towards just one thing: playing games. However, people want more. They want music and video streaming, chat, media players, high-performance browsers, wheather forecasts, social media integration, and even more junk.
By including such things, a game console is turned into a multimedia device, which means the sole focus of gaming is lost to non-gaming aspects. And by looking at it that way, I fear that even Nintendo will not be able to resist this casual appeal for their next console.

So yeah, by definition, consoles are going to die because they're no longer made for gaming alone. Pachter is just letting his wet fantasies run wild there, proclaiming vague theories without any sort of actual direction or argumentation base

Meh, not my thing. The artstyle is nice and pretty 80's, overall. But the gameplay seems very slow and stiff.

@LztheQuack Yeah, I noticed that, as well. It still takes some foresight and practice to not shoot Plague Knight right into a hazard, but it's more manageable with the float.

@OriginalSpiff Yeah, I feel kinda bad for not keeping in mind that they put some great effort into an expansion for no extra charge, so there's that. But at the same time, I don't think the problems would actually be worse if it cost money, so I decided to not mention it.

@Zach777 Dude, there's a difference between not being able to control something properly and the game not allowing you to assume control at critical instances (most notably, his burst jump). You can always try to shut me off by baselessly claiming I was bad at the game, that doesn't automatically mean you're right. And in this case, you're definitely not, since I'm already done with Plague Knight's campaign, with only a few coins missing.
Also, at what point does Kickstarter have anything to do with any of this, except for Shovel Knight being one of many fundraised games? Is that the new way of saying "make a better game"? Cause that's not even an argument - some things you don't need to be great at to understand what can cause issues.

To be honest, I can't really warm up to the expansion. I already disliked Shovel Knight for being too short and easy for how little replayability it offers, but Plague of Shadows is almost a bizarre reverse-case.
The content while not really much larger, offers much more character interaction, and by extent, a lot of nice development, subtle and insignificant as it may be. Plague Knight is very quickly established as a crazy, overconfident loudmouth, and almost comes off as an outsider among the Order. Mona gets just what I hoped for: a twisted, but very likeable personality with a bit of hidden depth added later on, and some folks from the village also get new, interesting roles.
In addition to that, there's tons of detailed animation in the hidden laboratory, and just as much attention to detail basically in every new area. So the looks are not just retained, but expanded, almost like an indirect sequel.

However, the gameplay is... weird, to put it simply. Plague Knight is much more technical than Shovel Knight, and he controls like wet soap. Bad combination. He has this momentum-based moveset that does everything it can to feel unintuitive, with the blast jump especially being difficult to prepare without forcing yourself to stop completely, only to then propel you at unprecedented speeds and with close to no air control. Add to that Plague Knights general lack of out-of-the-box mobility, and fast bosses like Propeller Knight become a chore to fight, while heavily pattern-reliant bosses like Specter Knight become even more of a joke than they were with Shovel Knight.
Also, while parts of the main stages got new areas and revisions to cater towards Plague Knight a bit better, some parts are just unfitting for his moveset, nonetheless (like the Underground Ruins, which require a lot of precision, something that is exteemely difficult to achieve with tiny bombs).

Overall, Plague of Shadows does some things better, but then goes ahead and ruins itself in other parts. The rise in difficulty often stems from a lack of control, and in other parts it simply doesn't feel fair due to low mobility/speed, but when the level and enemy design actually fits in well, it's still very easy to do. But really, I can't say I'm enjoying it all that much. The new areas (especially the Secret Laboratory) look just awesome, the slightly stronger character focus makes the present cast more interesting, and the nods to previous events are really funny. However, Plague Knight doesn't control very well, and the levels are the exact same for the most part, and thus come off as even more boring since I've played through them numerous times already.

SIIIIIGH!

Since the first game was kinda meh, and I don't see anything that improves the combat approach, no. Not at all. These characters make no difference to the second game, and the first one became really bad around the second half.

I do like the design idea of an adult Pit looking more sinister, but the artstyle kinda killed it. Looks more like El Shaddai than Kid Icarus. Nonetheless, as a fan of "darkside" stories, I'm a bit disappointed this never became a thing. Though Uprising is a superb game with a truckload of charm, and a dark story as well.

@link422007 Who said it was intended to be mature? It was meant to be darker, that's all. There are too many people like you thinking people like me prefer dark stories because they're supposedly mature, when it's simply the tense and (sometimes laughably) serious tone that makes for the main appeal.

I'm still waiting for solid numbers on MGS5 sales figures. And hopefully, it did unbelievably well and turned a big profit. The better it is, the more it's gonna hurt Konami to never see those kinds of numbers ever again!

Hopefully nobody involved in the Monster Hunter Mezeporta Incident project has a hand in this - the results would be horrifying...
The Ace Attourney animé only holds limited appeal to me, since I already know the games, and I highly doubt they will majorly change the story, so the element of surprise (a huge factor for crime stories) would be lost on me.

If I wasn't fresh outta hospital and incapable of sitting upright for more than 20 minutes (which I'd have to for proper aiming), I could get right back into Splatoon. But hey, exploring a new map in Recon is fun, as well!

SPLATOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!

@DarthNocturnal Headphones do not require much space at all, so they hardly get in the way. But with these cartridges, the exact problem would arise that made a good number of people already switch to digital on consoles and PC: it saves space and eliminates the necessity to carry/switch carts or discs constantly. It's simply inconvenient to carry these plastic things around just for one measly game when the exact same game can also be downloaded to the SD Card or internal storage of the phone.

@sketchturner I sure did. Once even without using a single meal ticket. NG+ doesn't make the game more difficult, just less forgiving. Didn't have much trouble, except for Plague Knight. But even with that, none of the platforming becomes harder, enemy patterns don't exand or change, not even the bosses do anything besides more damage per hit.

@ianolivia Honestly, that's one of the biggest non-issues people keep fussing over. None of the older Pokémon games offer any content unique to them that isn't in newer games (except the Kanto region), they're mechanically outdated, and the lack of multiplayer makes it impossible to get the entire content at all. The demand for these old Pokémon games is nothing more than nostalgia, and nostalgia is a bad client.
Besides, most people who want the older Pokémon games still have them and the required system(s) anyway, and only want to satisfy their convenience. And, as you said yourself, they're widely available, and GameBoy's of all generations are dirt-cheap, as well.

This doesn't really work with the intended mobility of phones at all. People get smartphones because they don't need to get much (if any) external hardware, instead having everything imaginable available through digital means. A physical cartridge is way too backwards for that.
Also, the general idea is just stupid. Many NES games require extremely precise controls due to their difficulty, and virtual gamepads do not provide that. At the same time, an extra gamepad for phones contradicts their design as mobile devices just like these cartridges do.

[...]The original Shovel Knight was not a platformer for the faint of heart[...]

Really? If you're at least somewhat familiar with NES platformers, Shovel Knight has hardly any challenge on offer, so I'm still not seeing how that impression manages to persist at all. Oh well, maybe Plague Knight's moveset improves the difficulty spike...

@ianolivia That doesn't mean emulators are okay by default. Sure, some rare games (many of which aren't even dependant on Nintendo whether they're ever gonna show up as VC, but the actual developer) might seem like a good argument, but that doesn't justify theft at all. Besides, there's even demand for SEGA console emulators and other non-Nintendo systems (including PSX), which is where any reasoning ends.

Well, that didn't last long. To Nintendo's misfortune, it would be a bad idea to block the YouTube app outright, but just blocking the exploit is only a temporary solution, as it seems.
I won't go as far saying removing the region-lock would solve the issue (the piracy mentality is still very lively in Homebrew scenes, what with the high demand in emulators), but it would certainly discourage people like me from using Homebrew, as the region-lock is my only reason to do so in the first place.

Pretty neat stuff. It's also a very good thing that they use genuine drums instead of digital ones, it just has that extra bit of power to the overall sound. Though I'd love to see the lyrics for some songs, and whether the two ladies were just singing gibberish or not. Still, nice video, but way too short!

It's a topic I'd much rather not talk about here (for several reasons), and I'm afraid the comment section of this site simply would break under the heated nature of the topic in general.

One can never have enough Senran Kagura, so the Hipster pack is mine. The rest doesn't really interest me.

We'll see what he's gonna be up to. I have no idea what we're in for with him, so it'll be interesting to see how Nintendo goes about with him in the chair.

@DarthNocturnal That'd be just as sad, and as I pointed out before, their usual practice of wasting potential left and right.
I know all too well I'm overthinking it, but ever since the bull OR/AS pulled in the Delta Episode, I'm getting increasingly sour on how poorly GameFreak treats the Pokélore.

@IceClimbers Really? Cause I'm pretty sure they're still writing the plot, like they did from the start. And here in germany, 4Kids is still credited with producing Pokémon.

@amiiboacid I didn't say so, either. I was referring to the core, which is apparently not a Pokémon of its own, but a part of Zygarde (kinda like with Kyurem needing the DNA stake to transform into Black/White Kyurem).

@DarthNocturnal The actual Pokémon designs are GameFreak's job, but stuff that is used specifically for the animé production, like the "core", which is stated to exist next to Zygarde's actual body, aren't designated Pokémon, so it's very likely 4Kids came up with that.
As for the mythological connection, sure, the dog form could be Fenrir, but Fenrir has barely any connection to the central Yggdrasil mythos, and giants weren't particularly close to it, either. The Yggdrasil mythos is the existential ground of the norse mythology, but many of the norse gods are more indirectly involved with it (well, except Loki, I suppose). Moreover, it simply raises way too many inconsistencies to see Zygarde assume multiple non-connected roles for "reasons". I'm gonna wait until the movie's actually out before calling the final verdict, but I'm not seeing this becoming a good addition to the already broken Pokélore (thanks, OR/AS).

Damn, 4Kids and GameFreak reached a new level of dumb with these Zygarde transformations... so, to cut it short, Zygarde's "lower" form is a dog for hell knows what reason, his main form has lost it's last ounce of significance, his final form looks stupid as hell, and the symbolism established between the GenVI legendaries was just a one-trick pony. Good to see they haven't lost that ability of wasting unbelievable amounts of potential over what amounts to the Dragon Ball Z formula of suspense: this isn't even my final form.

The swimsuits look okay, but really, it's such a boring trope at this point, I can't bring myself to care about that at all. The EO costumes are a nice touch, though, and I'm always in for some artbookery!
However, the LE-exclusive content and the lousy soundtrack selection CD are just awful.

Martinet has a really unique energy to him. When a person affiliated with Nintendo says "it's fun working for Nintendo", I always question that notio. But with this guy, he just says "I love working with Nintendo, it's so much fun", and all I can do is nod and smile.
He's a really outstanding personality, and everything he says seems just so genuine, it's almost unreal. Can't help but like him!

@Mus1cLov3r I played the old shooters for quite some time, and looking at both games, I hardly see much of a similarity in style, to be honest. Also, I think the artstyle doesn't really work well with the amount of verticality, either, but that's probably just me.

@Einherjar Sounds like a lot of missed potential, especially since the crazy characters in MGS are the thing that I always think of right after stealth gameplay, too. Thanks for the explanation, that actually gave me a good middle ground to orientate with. ^_^

Is there some sort of Minecraft Engine available online I haven't heard of, or is it really that easy to imitate the "artstyle"? Also, the games' logo is disproportionately flashy compared to the game itself.
Oh well, it looks like mayhem that could be fun for about 20 minutes.

Wait, isn't there already a site where you can order your own custom cover plates? Hang on, I'll look it up...
That said, I'd probably have cover plates with Higurashi motives, some self-made stuff, and a turtle.fish.paint face gallery (don't look it up, NSFW!).

EDIT: either I misread what I read some weeks ago, or it wasn't a thing, after all...

Hm, was Metal Gear Solid really that popular in japan? I thought it was one of these franchises that were far more popular in the west. Oh well, I'm somewhat happy that Kojima's farewell flag is going strong. Makes the bitter pill all that much harder for Konami to swallow!

@Einherjar I barely ever dealt much with the MGS franchise, so I wouldn't know, anyway, but is it really that disappointing? The hype makes it difficult to see what impressions are relatable and what is just fangasm...

The pioneer of good 3D platforming. Its impact is undeniable, and served as THE waypoint for Nintendo to conquer 3D gaming. Even though I never liked the game personally, it's clear just how much this game influenced and inspired game design, and still does to this very day.

Wow, at some point, the stability radiating from the 3DS might destabilize the fabric of existence around it!

Oh my god, this is awesome! Well then, off to stalk all those import sites for a fast preorder!

SPLATOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!

Funny enough, I think Nintendo doesn't do enough with their Mario-related inventions, especially from the 2D games.
Look at it like this: from SMB3 onward, basically every Mario platformer incorporated at least one new powerup that had a unique mechanic (Tanooki, Cape, Wing Cap, F.L.U.D.D., Gold Flower, and some I can't recall right now), but many of them are limited to only one game (except for Galaxy's gravity mechanics, including the Spin Jump, and technically Tanooki, but you can't fly with them in the 3D games anymore)). I believe Nintendo wastes a lot of potential with these powerups, despite offering a lot of potential for revisiting.

I'm not saying Nintendo should just retool old ideas in new games, but I feel like many creative and unique powerups we don't see anymore in newer Mario games deserve more acknowledgement, at the very least.

This actually seems kinda like a desperation move to me. They can't get support from 3rd parties, so they turn towards indies, since it's the only thing they can do except making more games themselves.
Not a bad thing per se, but it kinda defeats the purpose of being "indie" when all companies start supporting them to woo the masses.

I was actually afraid that Nintendo might monopolize the amiibo concept in some sort of fashion, denying 3rd parties access to it. Shovel Knight is a step in an intersting direction, and I hope that some other developers jump in on it, as well. Though I'd like to know how a developer "applies" for having a character represented as an amiibo.
Of course, there is the ongoing stock issue, and commencing even more new amiibo figures for production doesn't really help resolve the problem at all, so it's a double-edged sword when you think about it.

But, now that I think about it, it doesn't HAVE to be a figure. A gloss card, keychain, or a fake NFC gamecart (for retail releases of download games, for example) would be nice alternatives for Limited Editions, or generally more variety in the amiibo representation.

@MoonKnight7 From a gameplay standpoint alone, you're absolutely right. But I'm talking about what Super Smash Bros had as a franchise, and how it turned away from that as if it was a bad thing.
But I don't have anything against Shovel Knight in particular, and the amiibo looks surprisingly good (though it helps that Shovel Knight's design is also very simplistic). My issue with this is how Nintendo ignores a vast range of their own characters for indie appeal, which isn't inherently wrong, but still out of place, especially since Shovel Knight has no connection to Nintendo except for being released on WiiU (but only AFTER the Steam release).

There's quite a lot of things wrong with this review, and schockingly so. The superb story is barely mentioned, as well as the strategic depth of the tag system as well as the unlockable equipment.

@sWiTcHeRoO Don't talk nonsense when you know nothing of the game yourself. Contrary to what the review says, the combat system offers plenty of challenge and strategy, which is further enhanced by the many tag team combinations. Additionally, the writing is simply brilliant, with extremely high emphasis on character development and the increasing tension of the overall situation as threats become more and more prominent.
The fanservice might not be everyone's cup of tea, but is only in the way if you leave clothing damage scenes turned on - turn them off, and it's a seamless fight all the way through.
Also, who are you to judge people over what they like? Quite the arrogant behaviour you're putting up for show. You know nothing about the people who play this game, yet you have the audacity to judge them all at once based on knowing absolutely nothing.

Eh, doesn't look too bad, but not impressive, either. Moreover, I don't trust NamcoBandai with F2P at all, seeing how ludicrous their previous attempts were, as well as all the overpriced DLC they throw out like candy.

What does surprise me is that it runs on the Unreal Engine. Probably not the latest one (the textures look way too muddy for that), but this leaves a bit of hope for better UE-based titles to arrive on WiiU at the last second.

@Zombo Considering you didn't wanna bother with everything I said, you sure are putting a lot of effort into it. Neat.
But to start things off, who the hell ever said that Smash 4 is crippled? I sure didn't, so that assumption is all yours. Now, for the rest of your "argumentation":

The Story: Maybe it wasn't important to you, but it basically made the game. It provided a narrative and reason to the existence of Master Hand, the figure theme, and how all these characters appear in the same universe without any referential knowledge of their own universe (Shulk never reacts to Metal Face, Ganondorf never gets killed by Link, Mario actually fights Peach head-on, and many more things that normally make no sense at all). And as the series progressed, more elements got added to this narrative - until Tabuu kinda raised questions. Nonetheless, the narrative was thrown out of the window to remove a boundary - that's comparable to burning history books to spread fanfiction.
Also, what is it with people like you constantly excusing Nintendo's unwillingness to put effort into their stories for certain games? They've already shown that they can do this, but I keep hearing this idiotic "Nintendo isn't about story" bull. Does Nintendo have some kind of "who needs story" free pass? It's completely irrelevant who it is, throwing a story away out of convenience is lazy as hell.
Also, you don't seem to play fighting games other than Smash at all, because almost every other fighting game has a story, sometimes even extremely complex ones that give freaking world-spanning RPG's a run for their money, and nobody says "kill the story" - they appreciate and discuss this effort, because it gives the characters, well, character.

Smash Run: Have YOU played it? I won Smash Run multiple times without pressing a single button (except to progress menus), because the AI is unable to actually use modified stats properly, instead suiciding by overshooting, or just being the regular kind of incompetent, anyway. The same applies to Smash Tour - a friend even uses it for cheap farming. Start a Smash Tour with 3 AI opponents, go buy groceries, and when he's back, it's already over, sometimes with him as the winner. The huge RNG factor eliminates any skill requirements, turning it into a full-on lottery.

1. Wrong. Many tracks are straight originals from their respective franchises. See through the music list, and you'll notice it's quite a lot. A good number of remixes was also taken from Brawl.
2. What kind of backlash? People were extremely divisive about Subspace Emissary. Also, it's pretty narrow-minded of you to think Nintendo couldn't do it better this time around. There's always room for improvement, and this game had more than enough potential to improve and expand the story immensely. Instead we got one of the cheapest cop-outs I've ever heard from any Nintendo person ("People were uploading most of the story to YouTube and spoilered stuff to people who willingly clicked onto the videos, so we decided to drop it for the next game", as Sakurai put it).
3. That makes it only even less justifiable to have clones at all. If the roster is already large, why even bother with clones in the first place? No matter how you view it, clones are lazy, period.

@NintendoFan64 Can you even count? We have reached the pinnacle of cloning in Smash 4 (Dr. Mario, Ganondorf, Lucina, Dark Pit, Roy, Falco, Toon Link - that makes seven, and don't give me the "moves work different" excuse, that was always the point of clones, and can also be applied to Melee). Also, considering how long it took them to actually release Roy, it's very easy to say that they wasted a good amount of resources on just upscaling and minorly tweaking him. During Melee's development cycle, the clones were just flat-out unnecessary, no matter what. But these clones have far-reaching consequences, as Smash 4 shows by continuing the trend in full effect. It's a good example of quantity over quality (with Lucina in particular being a rather lousy waste of a character slot), but the saving grace is that established Nintendo characters are the base of these clones, so fans of the character will be happy nonetheless. It's a twofold safety-plan: new characters are instantly getting hyped for their very existence, and clones get tolerated because the character has enough fans to prevent people from actually noticing how Nintendo didn't even try to make anything different.
Now for Smash Run: I would actually agree that it's a change of pace - but then I remember that no players interact with each other until the maze part is already over, and then it's the usual yet again. And Smash Tour is even lazier, being a randomized board game that has no substance whatsoever. More importantly, the only thing of any actual concern is once more the fights themselves.
And the challenges are a different thing altogether. Counting both games (which have several identical challenges, anyway) is cheap, so lets stick to the one that has more, which is the WiiU version - and it still falls behind Brawl. No matter how you twist and turn it, the idea of replayability through Singleplayer Modes was simply replaced with the Online functionality - not that it changes the gameplay, just the players you have access to.