Kingy

Odyssey floored me when it came out, the game has so many surprises in store for a first time player, even if you saw the promotional material leading up to its release.
Nowadays I see the chinks in its armor a lot more clearly, but it's still remarkable and easily stands in the upper echelons of the Switch library. Nintendo was on their A game in 2017

Lol all the Switch games at the bottom except for Arceus. I 10,000% agree.
I need to replay Platinum, Emerald, & Moon. It's been a long time but if I have a favorite Pokémon game, it would be one of those three...

...is what I would say if Explorers of Sky wasn't clearly the best Pokémon game ever made and it's not even close

I hate how only some companies disclose their sales figures. TPC just gave the number right out meanwhile I have to resort to a third party to tell me Sony's big new game is selling "great".
I mean, I know why they do it, I just think it's annoying.

I don't mind DLC but it does have the potential to muddy up an otherwise great game. Or alternatively, the initial game comes undercooked with a tentative promise that there's more to come.
Nintendo alone has examples for both.

All that is to say, it's refreshing when a new game comes out fully realized and complete from the start. I have a lot of respect for games like Unicorn Overlord (Vanillaware in general really) because of that.

Leave it to Sakurai to just put a big dumb smile on my face. I was sold on the game pretty early into the direct, and then he just kept going and going and going with more reasons to like it.

No worries here about there being a lack of substance like a certain other Switch 2 kart racer.

@Tm080201 Definitely no argument there lol, I was more than ready to quit by the time you get to that ***** labyrinthine shrine area and it truly feels like the game is trying to pad out as much time as it possibly can.
And yeah, you couldn't convince me there's any reason they put Miku in this game other than soying and pogging. She's barely involved, and what involvement she does have completely undermines her conclusion in FFIII. She should've just been a new character.
Despite me having less negative to say about V than IV, I doubt I'll ever go back to revisit either.

All doubts eliminated. This is gonna be a good ass game

Nintendo could make a Unity asset flip and Nintendo fans would still spend $100 on it and die on the hill in droves defending it lmao

Unfortunately I don't think any of the Nintendo-published Fatal Frames are very good. Maiden of Black Water is at least decent for what it is. Solid character/ghost designs and some neat concepts I don't think really get fully capitalized on, but the game is bogged down by its garbage map design and repetitive sequences.
It also doesn't help that at the time NoA felt the need to shield the children by removing content from the T & M-rated games they weren't playing (the version that's available on the Switch removes even more content with the Samus & Zelda costumes, due to it being multi-platform).

Fatal Frame IV is just straight trash. Ugly, incredibly sluggish, repetitive, gimmicky, controls like ass, and worst of all features the most uninspired gaggle of ghouls out of all five games.

Fatal Frame II is the best one, but I recommend playing all three of the original PS2 trilogy, as they all share a (albeit loose) continuity. And I think Fatal Frame III has the best narrative of the series, but you need to play the first Fatal Frame to fully appreciate what it's going for.

60 minutes of Sakurai yapping about the cool new thing he made? Thursday can't come soon enough!
Soon I shall acquire a third Switch 2 game and a second Switch 2 exclusive kart racer

The year... of Charmy Bee

Legendary dude who's the mind behind some of the best games ever made. Rest in peace Itagaki, we'll all cherish your work forever, and strive to be even half the ninja you were.

Something tells me that won't be much of a competition

I'll play it eventually but yeah not in a hurry to pick this up.

This one's been a long time coming. It's been sitting on my TBA list for years! If this can come out then surely there's still hope for Little Devil Inside lol

I'd round it to about 10 but it depends mostly on does a game look good enough to entice me to buy at launch over just adding it to my list. Which is going to vary year to year.

In 2020 for example I bought 4 new games (maybe 5 or 6 depending on what's sitting on my shelf unplayed)
2021 has around 6
2022 is back to 4
2023 had a whopping 16 new games
2024 had 11 (counting ZZZ because I've spent money on it)
And this year so far is sitting at 9 new games. Technically 10 since I dropped $20 on Umamusume.

I try to create a 'to-play' list in a way where I'm playing new games alongside my backlog (EG: DK Bananza was a convenient excuse to play every other DK game). But many games are bound to slip through the cracks and inevitably fall into the "I'll get to it one day" pile.

The maid is built like that bat demon guy you collect gratitude for in Skyward Sword lol that's the first thing that came to mind

Other than her, surprisingly weak designs for the other four. But it's not like ToTK gave them anything at all to work with.

@JohnnyMind GKC will inevitably be gone too brother, It's a download code on a cart. When the store goes, any Key Card you haven't already installed will be worthless.
They don't want you to own your games, this is Nintendo's strategy to transition to an all-digital console next generation. They have become one of if not THE most anti-consumer, anti-player, & anti-creator companies out there, and its frustrating when fans feel the need to defend their garbage just so they can justify their purchase of it.

@JohnnyMind That's because the contents of the game doesn't matter if it's released in a format that people don't want to buy. Would you be okay with all these third party games releasing on the Switch 2 via Cloud editions? Most people wouldn't.

Just like most people don't want a physical cart with no game on it.

I'd say give me a collection of the Team Silent classics... but we've been down that road before...

@JohnnyMind It was literally one guy dude. Maybe you have a fixation on shielding your favorite billion dollar corporation from any criticism.
You ever consider pointing the finger at the company making the bunk product rather than the people voicing their distaste for it?

Very cold take but surprised to see it here at least. I haven't played CrossWorlds yet, it looks decent - which is all it really needs to be to surpass MKW by a mile.

Hollow Knight and Dead or Alive 2 (working my way through every DoA and Ninja Gaiden in preparation for NG4).
Dead or Alive is such a trip dude, it's been a long time since I've played it but I was quickly reminded why it's my favorite fighting game next to Soulcalibur.
Also getting into the Clock Tower series for Halloween.

Presentation is a bit of a lost art for title screens, most games nowadays opt for minimalism, as is the trend for corporate design. I imagine Prime 4 will be much the same. Damn does that Prime 2 theme hit you like a train though, and demo gameplay for all three as well - perfection.

That being said I do like Dread's title screen. The music and backdrop sets up a very welcome eeriness, even if the actual game doesn't really follow through with it.

They had to have designed the game with one or the other in mind, so I guess whichever one feels more natural. I'll always be more inclined to third person though.

Better yet, give me fixed camera angles and tank controls, that'd actually get me hyped for a new RE more than anything.

I mean it's definitely the leadership on the Japan side that's making Nintendo so terrible right now. I don't think it matters which lapdog runs the American branch.

My strategy is to not buy it

@RoboCube That isn't a counter to anything I said

It was far from bad I'd say, it helps that the movie had a somewhat cohesive story and cast of characters, which is actually more than you can say about a lot of other Hollywood movies nowadays.
But most of the movie was basically just reference junk food, and I didn't find it very compelling overall. I'd unironically rather watch the Bob Hoskins Mario movie, it is 10x more entertaining despite it being much worse.

As for its target audience (which I'm not convinced wasn't 30 year old Nintendo fanboys), I wouldn't say this kind of movie is bad for kids, but I would say you should demand more from children's media than less. These are movies your children will be watching over and over again in their formulative years. You shouldn't settle for slop.

Having groups of enemies to fight in DQI is a game changer. Older versions didn't really see much use out of your spells other than heal because of the 1 on 1 fights. This actually got me hyped up for the game, I can't think of a better addition than that

@Lizuka Why yes sir, I live on Bin Laden Ave!

Judging by how the trailer looked and the performance of Switch 2 ports from years old games like Cyberpunk and Elden Ring I wouldn't get your hopes up.
Every Nintendo console gets an initial third party push that quickly dies down, because they don't want Nintendo's hardware hindering the scope of their games.

Not to mention I don't see the Switch 2 having even a fraction of success the Switch 1 had.

@CasualTalkRadio I think I get what you're saying now. Sorry about the snark.

@CasualTalkRadio In what world does "don't see any way to improve" equal "I want them to make the game worse"???

I also said "just port the original version", immediately after. What did you think that meant? A demake???

@CasualTalkRadio VIII is literally the one game I said not to change a thing about brother, can you read?
Obviously I don't want them tampering with the original character designs, but it's not my decision to make. They either will or they won't. And judging by the last few releases they probably will.

The whole series is definitely getting the remake treatment. And I bet DQX will be coming to the west in some way or another too.
I like HD-2D, but I don't think it'll do IV-VI justice. All three are more character driven stories and I think they'd benefit from an overhaul to make them more in the style of VIII & XI.

As it stands the entire Zenithian trilogy already have remakes on the DS/Mobile that I think pretty much match the quality of the HD-2D style if not surpasses it in some ways. And DQV specifically has an excellent remake on the PS2 that'll be hard to match.
Looking forward to what they do.
DQVIII is the only game that I couldn't see any way to improve. Just port the original version, maybe add in the 3DS content / overworld monsters, doesn't really need it though, it's perfect.

I'll stick with the base game, thanks.

TV acting is only 20% more or less awkward than your average JRPG cutscene lol

Just said this on another thread, but this open area looks like a hub (and an ugly one too) that connects all the levels together. Which is concerning because that could say a lot of things about this game's overall level design.
They can prove me wrong, my favorite Metroid is Fusion, which similarly connects all of its levels to a hub area. But I won't lie I'm less inclined to get this game now than before I saw the bike and the desert.

Kirby Air Riders for sure cause I trust in Sakurai to deliver. Fire Emblem will always rocket to the top of my most anticipated games whenever announced so that's basically a free slot. I'll pick up Mario Tennis if it's as fun as the trailer made it look. And Hades II if the physical isn't a key card.

I've lost interest in Pokémon Z-A and Prime 4 having an open world concerns me. Idk, even if it's just a hub between levels it's still antithetical to the appeal of what makes Metroid's worlds so satisfying to explore. The bike killed the hype for me. Might get these used down the line.

Maybe Tomadachi Life if it retains that crackhead energy from the 3DS game and Miitopia. Hard to tell from the trailers but it doesn't look bad.
Everything else I'm either not interested or not getting for the switch.

I'd say they could stand to benefit from a bit of competition... But that requires sportsmanship, and nowadays there's a non-zero percent chance Nintendo just patents the concept of kart racing and sues.

@h3s Right. And old disks are pretty susceptible to wear too, I've had a few used Gamecube games die on me.

I wasn't meaning to say physical games are permanent, they'll all erode beyond repair one day. But as of now they're outlasting digital stores and it's not even close.

@MrPerson0 Why wouldn't they eventually shut down? And more importantly, who could stop Nintendo from shutting them down?
"Foreseeable future" is not forever.

@Olmectron That's great for now, but what about when they shut the servers down and you can't access the store at all anymore? Any game you purchased not installed on the console will be gone.

And let's not ignore that you can't buy games on those shops, any digital only title you didn't buy is inaccessible to you.
This isn't to say digital games and storefronts are bad. Far from it. But having options is important, and Nintendo (among other companies) want to take that from you.

@HingryHuppo Exactly. What's that quote from Gabe Newell I've heard a million times? "Piracy is a service issue."
These storefronts have such short lifespans that Sugimori's idea of digital preservation is just untenable. Thank god for emulation and the fans who put in the work to keep these older games playable.
Companies clearly would rather you forget them... You know, until they resell them to you.

Digital games last longer lol what a ***** joke.
Using Nintendo alone as an example, the Wii Shop Channel, DSI store, and the Wii U & 3DS eshop have all been shut down. Every game on them is GONE and many of them have no alternative options and/or will never be released again.
Meanwhile my SNES carts (most of them are older than I am!) still work perfectly fine.

They don't want you to own your games, they hate it.

@ShadLink If you think this DLC hasn't been completed for several months and couldn't have been included with the base game, then I think you're a perfect customer for a company like Nintendo. Sorry I don't have an uncle who works there there to tell me the exact times development started and ended, but you don't either.
That's the last thing I'm going to say on that point.

I'd ask you to engage with the point of my original response, but something tells you're going to continue to be a perfect demonstration of it. So forget it.

@Misima was much wiser than me by just hitting ignore lmao

Took them 5 years to finally bring over Galaxy 2 and they're charging double the price. I think I'll pass.

@RiasGremory Trump's tariffs = $20 DLC for Donkey Kong worldwide, gotcha. It all makes so much sense now. I can't believe the mean president was just gonna let poor Nintendo starve like that.

@ShadLink Actually my baseless assertion is better than your baseless assertion.
I'm not going to have a circular argument with you dude. It doesn't matter if the DLC was developed before or after the base game, people can still take issue with the price.

@ShadLink I don't have a source, it's a claim I made myself based off my own reasoning.

And where's your proof that it was developed after the base game? If this is the argument you want to have then yours is equally as baseless.
And still beyond the point as you continue trying to justify to me why you spent $20 on the DLC. It's none of my business, dude, you can buy whatever you want.