LastFootnote

@PikaPhantom Sorta? I mean, you still can't play with the new minigames if you want to earn points toward unlocking stuff, etc. At least I assume that's what it means.

@Metazoxan "People seem to have forgotten if a product doesn't do well it doesn't continue."

The problem is that sometimes they take the wrong lesson there. It's perfectly plausible that this will fail due to Game-Key Card shenanigans, but they'll think people don't want TRPGs.

A full-phyiscal Switch version with a free upgrade pack should go a long way toward mitigating that—as long as the upgrade pack isn't over 5 GB or some such.

@Pillowpants Yeah, this. If it were a true physical release on Switch 2, I'd gladly pay $60 or $70 for it. As it is, I'll see how much space the Switch 2 upgrade pack takes up before deciding whether to buy a Switch 1 physical copy now or a digital copy in a year or two.

EDIT: Looks like both the Switch and Switch 2 versions take up 6.8 GB, so hopefully the "upgrade pack" will just be a tiny unlock code of some sort.

@OrtadragoonX Well if the trailer above is any indication, you now fight multiple enemies at once and they’ve added enemy types from other Dragon Quest games. So it seems they’ve expanded DQ1 quite a lot. I think that’s exciting, but I hope there’s also a “classic” mode that stays more true to the original.

I’d love to get this Day 1 and I would if it were a true physical release. But I’ll stay strong and wait a few years until it’s 50% off digital. If you’re gonna make me store your game on my own overpriced memory card, I’m not gonna pay full price for it.

Yeaaaaaaah! Chants of Sennaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!

Lots of other games I love on this list, but man Chants of Sennaar really deserves a 9/10 at least. If the premise sounds interesting to you, pick it up. It's an incredibly polished and well-realized game that is just long enough.

EDIT: It's weird that all the screenshots included are from the game's second area. The whole game isn't blue with red accents like that, in case anybody was wondering.

When I saw it was a video, I was like, "I bet Zion is behind this." Sure enough! Keep being awesome, Zion!

@sketchturner Whoa, good luck with UFO 50. I was tearing through the games in order until I hit Block Koala. I loved the first 13 games and then discovered I'm awful at Bushido Ball. I was finally able to beat it by turning the number of points-to-win down to 4 and getting lucky, but I will probably never cherry that game.

Block Koala just isn't fun! It's an incredible slog so far and I'm only about 15 puzzles in.

EDIT: I guess I'll also say: Although I agree Hollow Knight is the pinnacle of the genre, but I remain a big fan of SOTN. I think the gameplay is more than passable, but it's other things that make it great. The music is fantastic. The graphics are great for their time and really hold up. And I disagree that it's not fun to explore. There's a lot of interesting treasure to be found that really mixes up the gameplay. And the game scores very highly on my fun-details-o-meter.

Thanks for writing this.

I may have to play through the game again myself. It's been a few decades and I remember almost none of this.

@Max_the_German Dang! I wish that sort of price drop happened in the USA.

@Cathalm You are correct! I should have said “new typings OR abilities”.

For those who are interested in the spoiler but don’t want to hunt it down: Hawlucha is getting a mega evolution (and Machamp isn't).

@CaptainQuo I strongly disagree. It’s very cool to be able to get new, stronger versions of weaker Pokémon and Pokémon that already have three stages in their evolutionary chain. They nearly always have cool new typings and abilities. Mega evolutions of already powerful Pokémon are a waste, though.

Dynamax/Gigantimax is by far the worst thing to happen to Pokémon.

@koopababble Please work on your reading comprehension. I did NOT say that Silksong shouldn't release on September 4. What I said was…wait, why should I repeat myself? Go up and read what my comment actually said.

Sorry for being snippy, but come on. Please read the things you respond to.

See, this article illustrates why the radio silence from Team Cherry was so awful. Silksong has warped the entire indie game scene and video game hype around itself for over 5 years. Was it Team Cherry's responsibility to communicate its progress to fans and other indie devs? No. But at the same time, an occasional "It's not nearly ready yet" might have spared us five years of people spamming "silksong when" in the chats of game presentations.

When we heard that they were just ignoring all of that and having fun making their game (which is what I'd assumed was happening), it just made me so angry. They seem to have absolutely no empathy for the grief their actions cause.

@The21zonz Yeah, but somehow that seems like less of a collision. The audience that's interested in both is probably way smaller.

And let's be honest, Kirby Air Riders is a much smaller deal than Silksong in the internet mindspace, if not also in sales numbers.

It’s comin’ up
It’s comin’ up
It’s comin’ up

I bet this'll be a Mario-only Direct like we had 5 years ago. The Metroid Prime 4 release date will drop on the Nintendo Today app some other time.

@DaveP Huh, my experience was the opposite. So many outlets seemed to be comparing Bananza unfavorably to Mario Odyssey, and I think it’s pretty clearly better. It was easily worth $70.

All the sites are raving about Air Riders, but it sure doesn’t look like $70 worth of value to me.

@N8tiveT3ch That’s true. It’s better than those games.

Cave Story is an all-time classic.

Most Metroid games are great.

Ori and the Blind Forest was a waste of money and I regret the small amount of time I spent with it.

Hollow Knight beats them all.

It's a company that published niche RPGs and makes most of their money on collector's editions. What are they thinking with these Game-Key Cards? Just charge an extra $10 for a real physical version!

As with the rest, instead of buying the physical collector's edition on day one, I'll buy it digitally once it's half price, if at all. This will continue until NISA wises up.

I think the reason the years of radio silence makes me so angry is how disrespectful it was to other developers whose games appeared in indie showcases. Every one had its chat spammed with Silksong begging. All Team Cherry had to do was occasionally say: "We're at least six months away from revealing anything. Thanks for your patience." But no. Almost a decade of indie games with the shadow of Silksong hanging over them.

I'm glad the game is coming out and I'm excited to play it. But damn, I'm pretty disappointed with Team Cherry.

@sketchturner The interview with Jason Shreier makes clear that they plan to keep adding stuff to Silksong for many years.

sigh

@wollywoo You joke, but honestly the gall of having a three-minute countdown to start a trailer that was supposed to air at a certain time had me wondering if they were intentionally trolling us.

If I have to read the words “buttery smoothness” one more time on NintendoLife, I think I’m gonna ralph. Mix it up a bit, folks! There’s got to be one or two other phrases that can communicate a solid framerate.

@Ultimapunch It was heavily implied that there won’t be split-screen. There was also no mention of GameShare. Better invest in a second Switch 2 and two copies of the game!

@Huntrix3 Dude, I’m all for limits on what young kids should be exposed to, but those ratings are just guidelines, and they’re not very granular. Use your own judgment, that’s my advice.

25 GB!? Looks like I may get this physical if I get it at all.

@Bunkerneath Eh. I mean, it could have maybe been 20 minutes, but there were two gameplay demos, which do provide value.

THIS is the big holiday game, huh? Dang. It doesn’t look bad, but I’m still not really sold on it. I just don’t enjoy racing games and Mario Kart World ended up just OK.

@CoreXY Agreed. December is the most likely month at this point. I guess Sakurai could surprise us today/tomorrow with a September date, but I doubt it if they were still working on it in April.

I mean, that’s cool and all. It hasn’t shown up for me yet so it’s hard to judge. Is it the whole soundtrack, or just a selection?

EDIT: I guess they’ll drop it sometime after the Direct, since the usual drop time is past at this point.

If there’s one thing the last few years have taught me, it’s they these live “fan experiences” always go well!

I really thought they’d reveal one more new Mega Evolution at Worlds, like they revealed Mega Kangaskhan at Worlds before X and Y released.

I guess not!

@Daveg_23 I was also loving Mortol until I beat it and saw the requirements for its cherry disk. It’s gonna take some doing.

@Princess_Lilly Spoiler: there are actually 51 games in this collection.

I've only played the first 8 games in this collection so far, and I've already more than gotten my $25 worth. This is easily a 10/10.

PSA: For those of you who have NES controllers for Switch, THIS IS THE GAME YOU BOUGHT THOSE CONTROLLERS FOR! All of UFO 50 is played entirely with the D-pad and the A, B, and Start buttons. It's 100% the best way to play.

Conversely, for those of you who fall in love with this collection of games, consider picking up a pair of NES controllers from Nintendo's store. The price just went up to $70 for a pair of them, unfortunately. But honestly, a total of $95 for this game and the controllers is still a good deal.

So, is this a list of the best games that have pixel art, or the games with the best pixel art? Because if it's the former, UFO 50, Shovel Knight, and Axiom Verge should definitely be on here.

“Don’t miss it”? Really, Mr. Doolan? Are we all expected to travel to Anaheim just to try a demo?

Yeah, I'm glad my kids are already a bit too old for this stuff, or I'd be sorely tempted.

@AussieMcBucket I just checked the download size.78.5 GB? Haha, no thank you. I'll sadly keep missing out on this game.

“ Here's a look at every title making an appearance:”

Incorrect. That’s just the titles shown in that graphic. And then JUST below it says “Play these and other titles…”

@HeadPirate "I get that it sucks and no one is happy, but people should see game keys for what they are ... a game that WAS NOT going to get a physical release, period, getting a game key as a compromise."

I don't think this is actually true, though. If Game-Key Cards weren't a thing, a lot of these games—the vast majority of them, probably—would have physical versions. In many cases they might be more expensive than they are, but they'd have physical versions.

I would gladly pay $60 for that new version of Bravely Default if it were a true physical game and didn't take up a bunch of space on my SD card. I would have bought it Day 1 at $60. Instead it's effectively digital-only and $40, but I won't be paying more than $20 for it. I can wait a year or two.

@UltimateOtaku91 Could be, could be. I’d think a September game is more likely than a December one. Although, if Kirby Air Riders isn’t delayed out of 2025, that seems by far the most likely to be a December game.

I expect Hyrule Warriors in January and Splatoon in Spring.

@UltimateOtaku91 But that’s not gonna happen, right? Pokémon has a release date it’ll probably stick to, and Metroid has a 2025 release window which hopefully won’t be pushed back. But Splatoon is “TBD” and almost certainly won’t release this year. Finally, “this winter” stretches through at least February 2026. Everybody keeps assuming Age of Imprisonment will release this year, but Nintendo only said it’ll release “this winter”.

@CasualTalkRadio Yeah, it’s pretty great! Kudos to Square for making it a free update! The loading times are also better on Switch 2, but I believe that’s unrelated to the patch. I do wish they’d cut the loading icon altogether for most loads, but that’s really my only nitpick. The game feels so much better at 60 fps.

I appreciate the patch, Square-Enix! Now please consider some true physical version of DQ I & II on Switch 2.

@adh56 Square-Enix has specified that there WON'T be an upgrade path for Dragon Quest I & II.

Well then I have "no interest" in buying your game, Square-Enix. Good day, sir!

Diamond and Pearl are the most popular Pokémon games in Japan? That’s nuts. As someone who’s played since Gen 1, 4th-gen has got to be one of the most forgettable gens in a lot of ways.

Then again, I did play a LOT of Pokémon Battle Revolution.