LastFootnote

Sitting here, I finally realized why Nintendo never released VB games on 3DS: I don’t think they’d function at all with the 3D slider. At least for e.g. Wario Land, the system isn’t calculating a 3D space to broadcast to each eye. It has a left-eye image and a right-eye image. There is no “center” image. So turning off the 3D slider would, at best, give you a skewed view of a game. They could have made the 3D “always on” while playing VB games, but that’s something Nintendo would never countenance. A 3D slider that sometimes can’t turn off? Nope, not happening, especially with all the warnings they slapped everywhere about young children not using the 3D effect.

EDIT: This is also probably why there’s no 2D option on Switch. They’d have to go in and reprogram every game to output a “center” image. No way are they doing that. It might entail an entire redo of what a VB game ROM actually is.

@the_beaver "It makes sense."

And that's precisely why Nintendo won't do it!

The best thing about Virtual Boy Wario Land for me is that it's much more in line with the original Wario Land than the games that came after. I loved SML3: Wario Land as a kid, but I've only played the subsequent games on Switch. I did beat Wario Land 3 and 4, but I can't say I'm a fan of the whole "Wario can never die and you need to get hit to change forms" mechanic. It sounds cool but in practice it means that every time you make a mistake, instead of just dying and restarting from a checkpoint, you have to do a long, tedious trek back.

But yeah, so far VB Wario Land is exactly what I want in a Wario Land game. I've beaten the first boss and I'm looking forward to playing further when I have time. Seems like the game will be shorter than the original Wario Land but it's still a good time.

This is a pleasant surprise, but for me it’d be tough to go back to a game before the physical/special move split. I may still bite though, no pun intended.

Yeah, this is one of the few instances where it seems potentially fine. It helps that I do not care at all about sports games.

@KayFiOS "At least late March" is right. Personally I'm not expecting a general Direct until June at the very earliest. Possibly this is one of those years where we only get a September Direct.

If Nintendo really is relying on third parties for all the exciting releases this year, at least they're focusing on updating more and more of their Switch 1 offerings for Switch 2. Honestly I think I'm OK with that, especially if we get updates for their Intelligent Systems (Fire Emblem and Paper Mario), Next-Level (Luigi's Mansion 3) and Good-Feel (Yoshi's Crafted World and Princess Peach: Showtime) games.

Yeah, I think I appreciate the lack of wordplay in the article. That's nice sometimes, as a palate cleanser.

@Zeebor15 Hey now, to be fair, the updated version of DKCRRR Switch 2 Edition But For Free is pretty near a perfect version of the game. Forever Entertainment may have a pretty poor batting average, but ultimately this particular product ended up about as good as I could have asked.

@ParrakerriRush Bwahahahahahahahhhahahahahahh!!! Cheaper Nintendo games. That's a good one!

This poll (especially when compared to the previous two) makes me realize just how much Gen 3 rocks. I voted Torkoal, but I have used so many of these on my (relatively few) doubles teams over the years. Shiftry, Slaking, Hariyama, Solrock, Banette, Dusclops (even though it's now mostly replaced by Dusknoir), and Metagross. Plus there's all-time cool ones like Masquerain, Breloom, Flygon, Ninjask, and Shedinja. Man this generation was great.

Similarly, although removing the red lenses took a little bit of force at first, it was very easy to do once it's been taken out at least once.

OK so I know you're meant to be able to remove them eventually, but this sure sounds like you broke something.

@Warioware Yeah, it’s more than a little silly that we still can’t play Symphony of the Night on Switch.

@RoboCube Age of Imprisonment was developed by KOEI, and it’s a real physical release. I think The Pokémon Company is just greedy.

I was considering picking this up, but like all other Mario sports titles (and sports titles in general), I don't think this is for me. Luckily the Lil Gator Gate DLC comes out on the same day, so fun will be had!

@HammerGalladeBro That's a dang good list. I would definitely have Toad's BBQ Foodeatery somewhere on my Top 10.

I mean I was unlikely to buy it anyway, but a lack of single-player content definitely means I’m out. I’ve yet to buy a Mario Sports title and the ones during the Switch and Switch 2 eras aren’t convincing me so far.

Why would they intend to put off a balance change?

@ttfp As a game or as a soundtrack? Origami King has the original Thousand-Year Door beat in the music department, though I’m not sure if it beats the remake’s updated and expanded soundtrack.

@UpsideDownRowlet Nothing to write home about?! This is probably the soundtrack I’ve been most excited to see since the service launched, and I’ve been playing Nintendo games since the NES days. It’s a phenomenal soundtrack.

@Friendly These would be amazing. While we’re at it, let’s get the Lennus (Paladin’s Quest) games as well!

I wasn't impressed by the Adventures of Elliot demo. It just felt kind of soulless.

@Mana_Knight The Goemon collection was apparently also announced in this Direct, but it's Japan-only.

Am I rating this Direct compared to other Partner Showcases, or compared to Directs as a whole?

@Rhaoulos If only I could put it on my wishlist. It still doesn’t appear on the eShop.

Oh thank goodness. I missed the window to order the Virtual Boy shell, and I was hoping the Labo VR would suffice!

@Bass_X0 I mean, Super Mario Bros. isn’t 100 hours long unless you’re really bad at it.

I’ve never finished any version of DQ7, so I’m looking forward to this.

@UpsideDownRowlet WarioWare is at least very nostalgic for me, although I admit its listen-ability is low overall.

Brothership was at least a big soundtrack, albeit for a game I haven’t played.

I still can't believe they have the gall to make this a Game-Key Card AND charge $70 for it. I'd still get it digitally someday, but I'm guessing Pokémon's close association with Nintendo will ensure that discounts for it never get steep enough.

But hey, if it ever does get down to say $50, I'll buy it.

@Ooyah See, that's what I thought as well. Look at those vibrant colors! Normally I'd love that. But…it's the Virtual Boy. Putting bright colors on a game's box basically amounts to false advertising. The actual game is just black and red. So I voted for the Japan cover, for being somewhat more true to the game experience.

There's no way I'd pay $60 to buy it for myself, but my daughter is excited about it so I'll pick it up for her. Bought her a couple of vouchers so that we can at least get a bit of a discount on this and Rhythm Heaven Groove (which I imagine will also be $60).

Everybody is going on about how we can't get rid of AI now that it's here, and I'm going to push back against that. The thing is, right now it's being massively subsidized by companies in order to get us addicted to it. But eventually they'll try to raise the prices on it and we'll see what happens then. We can accelerate that process by making these AI companies actually pay for the clean water and power they're using, rather than shifting that cost onto the populace.

As usual, the first step is not electing and re-electing corrupt leaders, which you'd think would be easier. There sure are a lot of idiot voters out there though.

@JohnnyMind Reminder: American retailers do not discount video games the way European ones do. We’re stuck paying the full $60 for the foreseeable future.

$60? Really? I remember when this type of smaller release at least warranted a $50 price tag. Like the WarioWare entries on Switch, for example.

@NintendoWife Yes, plus it looks like the Koopaling boss levels may be new.

@westmeadow OK, fair enough. I ordered one. Thanks for the tip!

@NintendoWife But…it’s not all multiplayer? They showed the single-player content with the Toad Brigade and Koopalings.

@chardir That is a fantastic idea and I wish Nintendo would adopt it.

@Res462 "Possibly the least exciting first party release of the year."

This actually might be the Nintendo release I'm most excited for this year so far. Obviously that could change once they announce some more games, but for me this beats the pants off Mario Tennis and slightly edges out the new Yoshi game.

@PJOReilly I would love an article about non-NSO games that are fully playable with the NES controllers. Here's a partial list to get you started:

Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition
Cyber Shadow
UFO 50

@FredsBodyDouble I dunno, I'm pretty into it! It's $20 for a really sizeable update to a game I'm probably going to replay soon anyway. I'll be thrilled if the remaining Switch 2 Editions are of this caliber. As long as they interleave actual new releases between them (which they have been so far), I think Nintendo can and should do a lot more of these.

@SBandy1 @jfp @Dang_69 It says on the website: "Experience the Flower Kingdom in up to 4K resolution when docked to a compatible TV. Enjoy smoother frame rates and faster load times for a snappier feel."

The article doesn't mention it, but at the end of the video they tease a new Super Flower Pot power-up, which I guess allows you to create flower platforms in front of you that then rise into the air?

@westmeadow I appreciate that! But I’m not buying memory cards from Amazon. They sometimes send up being bootlegs.

@Sanangelo89 How many games do I and my family play at the same time, you mean? Quite a few as it turns out. And no I can’t delete “a game”. I’d have to delete like 30 games, since mostly I have small ones on my card and system. I buy the large ones physically you see, back before Nintendo decided to give greedy publishers a way to shift their costs onto consumers.

Not to be that guy, but…

Does this mean Paper Mario can be weird again?

@Joe11 Yeah, I know. And that's fantastic, don't get me wrong. Mostly it's the storage issue. My system and 256 GB card are already full, mostly with small indie games. I'm not going to make 90 GB worth of space right now just because Square-Enix refuses to optimize their game down to 64 GB and put it on a game card. Once I have a 512 GB card, it starts to look much more attractive.

I'll get it as soon as it goes on sale! For at least 50% off. And as soon as I can get a 512 GB Micro Express SD card from a reputable source. Maybe in 2028!

If it were a true physical release, I'd buy it right now and gladly pay $70 for it. Maybe $80 since it would need a bigger card than the 64 GB ones Nintendo is currently offering.

I was so sure they would never fix the issues with this game, and I'm thrilled to have been wrong. As far as I can tell, they've addressed basically every complaint about the game. It's an amazing surprise and has won Nintendo a lot of goodwill from me. This was my son's favorite game to watch me play when he was younger, so it's quite special to me. (These days he's not that interested; he's too into great Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight and The Messenger.)

BUT

Although it's pretty amazing they added Dixie Kong (even to boss cutscenes!), I'm a bit bummed that there's no option to play through the game without her. If I want something more like the classic experience, I now have to be careful how I pick up DK barrels, and they no longer ever display the classic red "DK" on them. That second point is minor I guess, but the first will likely really mess with the flow of the gameplay if I want to get a specific Kong from these barrels.

@BrewsterTea I think maybe the difference is that they don't want to have to repackage this game as a Switch 2 Edition and print copies for store shelves, etc. But hey, at least that means it's free!

@Mana_Knight I was thinking the same thing. If they updated Showtime to 60 FPS, I’d probably do another 100% playthrough of it.