LastFootnote

@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.

@1UP_MARIO Yes they fixed it or yes someone can check?

@Deemo37 Why?

@Pillowpants Not gonna lie, I’d probably buy any and all Nintendo-themed Commander decks they’d release.

@TheExile285 I don’t think this is the new dripfeed. I think we’re not going to see any more of them. Maybe another couple at most.

If only they'd been able to release this before Silksong, I think there would have been even more demand for it.

@Kraven That's how I am with Fire Emblem. It's a cool series and I buy the games, but I've never finished one.

For a game like this (and for most games these days), if you have to sacrifice FPS or visual fidelity, sacrifice visual fidelity! The 60 FPS makes so much of a difference.

Cool. Maybe now they’ll print some more physical copies and I can snag one.

@axelhander I'm not clicking on your links, but just judging my the titles: yeah, the claim that AI water usage is a problem is—for now—overblown. The amount of electricity AI is using is an enormous issue and is moving us backwards in the fight against climate change.

@Fiskern Go ahead and what?

@Fiskern I have kids, so yeah I do prefer sets for kids. They’re something we can do together and get lots of mileage out of. These big display pieces are fun to build, but then they just take up space.

@8bit-Man Define “multiplayer options”. You can 100% play the game multiplayer already.

@Hwatt Thanks, but I can’t take credit. I saw it on a YouTube short.

Well, making all the LEGO Pokémon sets part of their geared-toward-adults line is certainly a choice. I guess that way they don’t conflict with their current Mega Blocks (or whatever you call them) sets for kids.

It’s good news for me! I won’t be tempted to waste my money on them.

@Dev-N Rosalina will be playable. She’s visible in one of the icons in the lower-left quadrant of the screen at 2:01 in the trailer.

That’s a misleading title. It’s the Switch 2 part of the update that isn’t free.

a $25 cardboard cutout for the Labo diehards

Speaking for the Labo diehards, we’re hoping that the VR set already works and we won’t need to buy anything.

@Brilliant_Bird_Man Oh man, I hope this is true. I'll try to remember to take a look later today. That would be game-changing (literally and figuratively).

@Pillowpants pushes up glasses OK so I know what you mean, but I will state for the record that the original Final Fantasy VII also wasn't turn-based.

But yeah, I'm also not thrilled with the Action-RPG direction that Final Fantasy has taken. At least in FF7R you can switch between characters instead of always controlling the same one.

@The_Nintendo_Expat For $3, that's probably a pretty good value.

It hurts me when Alana says "Telltale of old", but is referring to The Walking Dead and everything that came after. The real glory days of Telltale were before that. Sam & Max, Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People, Wallace & Gromit, Tales of Monkey Island; back when Telltale made classic point-and-click adventure games with puzzles and comedy. The Walking Dead was the death of Telltale games that I actually wanted to play.

@Zuljaras I also love Shovel Knight Treasure Trove, but don't love Dig. It's incredibly well polished and has lots of content, but it just didn't quite click with me. I think part of it is the controls. If memory serves, you can't jump without pogo-ing, which causes a lot of problems if you're trying to play carefully.

I'd say unless you love e.g. Downwell, steel clear of Shovel Knight Dig.

A plush for the low, low price of having to insert the card every time you play it and also store the entire game on your own system. Thanks, Pokémon Company!

From the name and ESRB blurb, it feels like Konami saw the runaway success of Balan Wonderworld and needed a piece of that action!

@PinderSchloss I think what you’re saying makes perfect sense. The thing is, that AI-generated reference of a fighter drains our drinkable water, raises our electricity bills, and contributes to global climate change. Maybe just stick with the human-made ones we have?

@riki_sidekicks Prove it.

I mean this is one of the companies that fell all over itself trying to get in on the NFT grift. Of course they're going to embrace generative AI.

Just another quick shout-out: If you own a pair of NES controllers for Switch, you should buy UFO 50 right now. For one thing, if you're the kind of person who bought those controllers, you're probably the kind of person who will enjoy the faux-retro games on offer. But second and perhaps more importantly, every game in the collection (and the interface connecting them) is meant to be played with an NES-style controller. Every single game is played with the D-pad and two face buttons.

I've beaten 21 of the 50 games so far. I've only hated two of them, and I've loved more than 10 of them. Even at full price, each game effectively costs 50 cents, and right now it's 20% off. If you love NES-era games, this is a no-brainer.

EDIT: Also on this list, Cyber Shadow was designed to be playable with an NES controller as well. It's also well worth the asking price.

@SplatRay001 It’s possible! The catalog is large enough that we may not get any Xenoblade soundtracks next year either. We get about 50 shots if they keep up this cadence.

@dartmonkey I didn’t notice any typos. Also, I’m really glad you wrote this article and created this poll! Here’s hoping the AI bubble bursts soon.

@LightSpirit I dunno, dude. I think it's great and have certainly gotten $20 of value out of it. Sorry for not calibrating my enjoyment to your standards?

For me, Mario Kart is the game I bought this year that's way to expensive for how much fun it is. I'm glad I got it in the bundle for just $50. DK Bananza plus Emerald Rush is easily worth the $90 I paid for it.

EDIT: Also, you can not like it all day and night, but claiming it's only 30 minutes of content is simply incorrect. No way is anybody blowing through the entire DLC in 30 minutes. That's actually impossible. You can claim there's only 30 minutes of worthwhile content, but that's not at all the same thing (and also I disagree, in case that wasn't clear).

And also you heavily imply in your original comment that you haven't bought the DLC yet? So probably you haven't played it? You're speaking awfully authoritatively on it for somebody who hasn't actually experienced it.

@sportymariosonicmixx I'm also wondering this. Maybe he has arthritis that prevents him from playing action games? I have no idea.

As for the genre discussion, I've found it interesting that UFO 50 labels its "metroidvania" games as both "adventure" and "platform". That sounds about right to me. A metroidvania game is a platforming adventure.

EDIT: Which, yeah, means that Pippistrello is not really in this category. It's a 2D adventure game, like 2D Zelda titles.

@JackTako Yeah, agreed about the art direction. I will say I found it better in practice than it looks in screenshots, but it's still not my favorite.

I played the demo today. Seems pretty deep and well-made, but it didn't really excite me. I put it on my wishlist and I'll almost certainly pick it up once it's 50% off.

@Grumblevolcano I'll be surprised if different-colored Joy-Con were released for the Switch 2 anytime soon. Maybe they'll never be released. It's pretty clear they want the colors of the controllers to match the colors of their sockets on the Switch 2 itself. Nintendo seem scared to death these days of consumer confusion.

@Willo567 I hadn’t even heard of Nintendeen until maybe a week ago? Still haven’t seen a video of his.

Here’s an article from right here on NintendoLife: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/12/the-us-suffered-its-worst-november-since-1995-in-terms-of-hardware-sales

@LightSpirit 30 minutes!? Are you just talking about exploring DK Island? Sure, that probably takes about 30 minutes. But the real point of the DLC is the incredibly fleshed-out and challenging roguelite mode, which I have easily spent over 10 hours on so far and haven’t unlocked everything yet.

@DennisReynolds The sales were extremely good. It seems like they’ve dropped off quite precipitously over the holiday shopping season.

If I thought Mario Kart World was worth $80, I’d be singing a different tune. I think it’s worth $50. And to be clear, I want Nintendo to succeed. But I want them to succeed by offering good value. If they’re going to continue raising prices and retiring loyalty programs like gold points, they deserve to fail a bit.

Just keep shooting yourself in the foot, Nintendo.

I’ve noticed the sound issues in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove. I hope they’re able to fix those soon.

@Suketoudara Reading your comment and discovering there was any EPYX content on Switch at all, I rushed to the eShop. There are two whole EPYX games collections on there and STILL no Jumpman. Come on, people!

In Europe you could buy C64 games for the Wii Virtual Console. Not so in North America! We have been Jumpman-less for decades!

@JohnnyMind If I had a nickel for every time you wrote "looking forward to it when I have time" here on NintendoLife… I would have an extremely large number of nickels.

Wow, the Switch 2 really is just a license for studios to get even lazier and optimize even less than on Switch.

I wish they hadn’t announced the Mega Man game more than a year out. Also, why not a numbered entry? The gameplay screams classic Mega Man.