LastFootnote

That’s a weird commercial, but I’m glad the game is getting an advertising budget.

@mlt There is platforming in the game, yeah. Not every surface can be climbed, and some things are e.g. floating in the air and require you to jump to them.

@Dang_69 Maybe your definition of mindless is different than mine, but I'm guessing you don't have anything to worry about. If anything, I'd say the level design is better than in Super Mario Odyssey. You CAN bash through most of the terrain (and probably will sometimes in order to find e.g. treasure chests), but there's also a "right" way to find all the stuff, and that's great fun. And of course not every problem can be bashed through mindlessly. There are lots of challenges the require speed and finesse.

I've played the demo at a local Target about 8 times now, I think. Even in the relatively small area of the first lagoon sublevel, I found new stuff every single time I played.

@Tayrailbridge I agree with you, but at least they’re adding soundtracks faster than they’re releasing games. If they keep releasing a soundtrack (almost) every week, they will eventually catch up. It’ll take a decade or so, but it’ll happen.

Someday we’ll get Origami King. Someday.

“ Gameloft promises that the Switch 2 upgrade will mean the game will run at 6fps”

Whoa, what was its framerate before? 1fps?

I wonder why this was reposted today.

It doesn’t excuse what’s happening with Front Mission, but I actually love DKC Returns on Switch. Obviously it would be better if that multiplayer issue were fixed and if the missing visual effects were added, but overall it’s now my preferred way to play the game. If there’s input lag, it’s not enough for me to notice.

Speaking of noticeable input lag, sure would be great if Capcom would redo Mega Man Legends Collection.

@topher6490 Pretty sure it was Monster Games that messed up the Donkey Kong Country Returns multiplayer when making the 3DS version, and Forever was using that as their template for the HD version. Not that that makes Forever any good, but blame where blame is due.

@gsilver It doesn't have two spots, it's just that its rank changed between you reading the first page of the list and you reading the second page. Since this article was just posted, lots of users are going into the games' pages on NintendoLife and adding their rankings. It's updated live.

@PharoneTheGnome For what it's worth, I don't think DK Bananza is "open world" in any meaningful way. It's got big areas to explore like Super Mario 64, etc., but like, they're levels you go through in order.

@BFahey3 The Switch 2 Editions of BotW and TotK on NintendoLife were reviewed by two different people. Ollie Reynolds seems to have made the decision to dock BotW a point based on the Zelda Notes functionality. Jim Norman didn't do the same with TotK.

Personally I find Ollie's decision bizarre, but we're all entitled to our own opinions.

I think I'll stick with my digital versions, but it's very cool that these exist.

@FredBiletnikoff That’s a really good call. I bet we’ll see it happen sometime in the next two years.

I'm starting to suspect they're holding back release dates mostly so that they can reveal them in the Nintendo Today app. Hopefully they'll still save most game announcements for Nintendo Directs. (In other words, hopefully Splatoon Raiders is an anomaly.)

@rjejr What could they possibly cut out of the full game to make a demo? I mean, not to be snarky, but the game basically is a demo, in some respects. If all you can do is play 3-on-3 matches either online or against bots, how do you demo-ize that?

Reminds me of when I bought my Wii U from Target. It was the Wind Waker one, but it turned out that somebody had already used the download codes and returned the system. Of course I could only discover this after setting up my online account and trying to redeem the codes, so I already had that account using my email address tied to that Wii U. Nintendo customer support wouldn't help me, insisting that I needed to return it to the store, which wouldn't fix my account problem. Turned out having to just eat the cost of Wind Waker and forego Hyrule Historia. Thanks, Nintendo!

@somnambulance Same, but Waluigi has been growing on me, probably in large part due to BitFinity’s “Waluigi Sings” series.

@Munchlax Because it’s a toy dump truck, I assume.

@StewdaMegaManNerd Probably they wanted to avoid the blowback they were sure to receive if they tried to charge extra to make the game work.

@jetsetradion I don’t think many people EXPECTED it, but certainly they could have made it run well if they had the time and competence to do so. If Breath of the Wild can run as well as it does on Switch, Scarlet and Violet could have been far better than they are.

@Lizuka Honestly it’s pretty seamless. Just start playing the game with the same account you’re signed into with the app.

I just sent NISA a civil email stating that I won’t be buying any Game-Key Cards, and will instead wait for a steep eShop discount.

@GreenXIII Pretty sure they are using the WotL script for the "Classic" version, actually. That's what I remember reading, anyway.

@Jack_Goetz I understand and share your concerns, but it’s worth remembering that “new 3D DK game by the Odyssey team” was rumored YEARS ago. So I’m guessing this was never intended as a tech demo and was always planned as a full game.

Here’s hoping it’s at least as big and interesting as Odyssey. My worries haven’t been completely dispelled yet.

Whoa, I know Mario Kart World isn’t perfect, but it’s gotta be better than Mario Kart Wii.

@Ooccoo_Jr You think 99% of gamers sell their physical games after playing them? I guess that’s possible, but I hope not. I don’t consider myself a “collector”, but I certainly don’t sell my games for pennies on the dollar. I’d much rather keep them and probably replay them.

@TKundNobody Tariffs on China were still sky-high until recently, and you could argue they're still high now. And I'd wager than most or all Switch 2 accessories are manufactured in China.

I assume that's also why the new amiibo are a ridiculous $30 each here.

@sanderev For large games, I would rather pay an extra $10 to have the game on a card than pay about $15 worth of space on a Micro SD EXPRESS card. And I'd rather be able to pop the card in rather than download and re-download a 64 GB game onto a memory card.

So uh, I wouldn't thank Nintendo on those fronts either. You're footing the bill either way.

Another Game-Key Card, I’m sure. I’ll pick it up digitally when it hits 50% off in a few years.

Just from the screenshots, it looks pretty unpolished. If the gameplay is good enough though, maybe it’s worth trying out.

I feel like maybe these games could more easily maintain a steady framerate if they oh I dunno REMOVED THE STUPID BLUR EFFECT ON THE TOP AND BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN THAT LOOKS AWFUL AND HAMPERS THE GAMEPLAY.

Looks like Super Mario Bros. Wonder got an update as well.

EDIT: Kirby Star Allies too. I’m guessing these are just compatibility updates.

Also:
Kirby’s Dream Buffet
Both N64 apps (to add rewind, button mapping, etc., I assume)
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
F-ZERO 99
Tetris 99

@JimNormam “the sworded issue of cownibalism”

…I’m not 100% sure this isn’t some strange non-sequitur joke, but uh, the word is “sordid”.

For those of us in the US: I think we can agree that Best Buy wins with these pre-orders. They may have started a half-hour late when the pre-orders went live, but their website actually worked and I haven’t heard anything about them cancelling orders.

@Axecon “All finally coming to an end.” Wish I had a dollar for every time I thought that was true. It might be true this time, but I remain very skeptical.

@Smithicus I don’t think they couldn’t get DK out in time. I think they’re purposefully delaying it in an attempt to maximize revenue. Nintendo has been doing this very steady cadence of releases for years now, and they won’t change it even for a new console release.

@Superick It’s a marketing issue. As others have said, don’t call it “Welcome Tour” and then charge for it. This was a completely unforced error on the part of NOA.

Here was me in my ignorance, hoping that Tetsuya Nomura had finally left Square.

OK, time out here. Are they talking about the plastic film that comes on all new screens and is clearly designed to be easily peeled off before use, or is there another film underneath that’s harder to remove? I’d always assumed the latter.

@BenAV I’ve had my OLED since release. Never applied a screen protector and the screen has no scratches. So I mean, it can’t be THAT easily scratchable.

@SalvorHardin PSA: You’re really telling on yourself as a crypto bro when you reference “FUD”.

@RiasGremory If reports are to be believed, the only two options Nintendo is giving are 64 GB Micro SD EXPRESS game cards and game-key cards. The first is way pricier than the second.

So, I (mostly) blame Nintendo for this.

@Solid_Python I don't refuse to acknowledge anything. Yes, I'll happily pay a $10 "Switch tax" for an on-card physical version of a big game. Maybe even $15! It sure would be nice if the digital versions were just cheaper, but that doesn't seem like it's gonna happen in North America.

Also, I don't care what's standard for other platforms? Why would that matter to me or anybody? It's a false equivalence anyway, since SSD EXPRESS memory is much more expensive that the hard drives other platforms use, SSD or otherwise.

@Solid_Python What I care about is the limited space on my expensive micro SD EXPRESS memory card. I couldn't care less about what's in the box, or having a box at all.

A lot of people aren't "boycotting" game-key cards because of some weird ideology. They're not buying them because they're strictly worse than both real physical games and digital downloads. And they're complaining because the game-key cards are REPLACING actual physical games, which is the best format for large single-player games you're not going to return to on a regular basis.

I'll probably pick this up digitally at a steep discount. I would have preferred a real physical version (at full price). There's no way I'm buying a piece of plastic that I have to insert into my Switch 2 but which still requires me to download the entire game and host it at my own expense. That's just idiocy.

@beltmenot They're worse than nothing, actually. They're a bunch of plastic waste for something that still requires a full digital download.

I was super excited for this and would have gladly paid $70 for a physical version with the games on-card. Instead I'll be waiting until the game is at least 50% off on the eShop and buying it digitally. Thanks, Square-Enix!

I hope I can snag one of these on release day despite not having preordered it.

According to Nintendo’s store page, this game can ONLY be played in TV mode. Is that accurate? Can you simply not play this on a Switch Lite?