Late

Expecting details about free roaming. I feel like there's more to it than what they've shown thus far. Also, some sort of battle mode.

I got an invite from Nintendo so I paid the standard 510€ for Mario Kart bundle. I certainly wouldn't have bought one from a Finnish store, especially when the initial prices were 650€ for MK bundle. They just applied Finnish VAT on top of Nintendo's price which already included one set of VAT. That makes 640€ when in actuality, it should be 538€.

How do GC games handle analog triggers when using something other than GC controllers? For example, if they were to release a racing game that uses R to accelerate, would you just lose the ability to adjust your acceleration while using Joy-Con? Is it always all or nothing? Are there workarounds like in Sunshine for Switch?

In the same vein, is the GC app all or nothing? I think I saw an article mentioning that the app is already over 3 GB at launch. I assume that means each game is downloaded by default and the app will grow as more games are introduced. This made sense for older games but a single GC game can be up to 1.5 GB. Wouldn't it make more sense to let players download each game separately within the app?

Got mine straight from Nintendo. I wasn't sure if I was going to get one at launch before the Direct but they decided to put the release date a day before my planned vacation so I might as well.

I think Nintendo's pricing is pretty fair when it comes to the console itself. The same can't be said for Finnish online stores which apply VAT on top of the VAT included in Nintendo's price, which makes the Mario Kart bundle about 650€. Someone at Bergsala (distributor for Nintendo products here) doesn't know how to count. I got the bundle and all the accessories I wanted for the same price.

@MrBelmont Have you opted in for promotional emails from Nintendo? That's the third criteria in addition to online membership and play time. Check your junk mail too, just in case, if you haven't already.

Come to think of it, how are they going to handle analog trigger functionality in GC games? I know they had a workaround for Sunshine on Switch but that probably won't work for every game.

Do you need a GC controller to be able to control acceleration in racing games? Or are they just going to avoid ones that depend more on pressure sensitivity? I have little experience with GC games so I don't know how big of an issue this really is. It's just something that occurred to me while thinking about if I should get the Switch 2 GC Controller or not.

@Beetoe They made an article about it yesterday. No need to mention it here.

One of my favorite games of all time. I have no need for a remaster myself but I'm happy for everyone else.

Strong start with Mario Kart but overall, pretty poor. Pacing was way off and it lacked some of the most important information.

@Clyde_Radcliffe That would be because the costume is based on how Mario appears in Mario's Picross. This art from Picross 2 shows the full outfit.

EDIT: They re-released Mario's Super Picross untranslated on Wii U and Switch so I fully expect them to add Picross 2 to NSO at some point. It's an interesting game. Puzzles are divided into worlds and there's an overworld where you move Mario from one puzzle to another. The game kind of assumes you've played the first game since after a short set of smaller puzzles, the rest are all 30x30 puzzles. Or rather, they are 4 interconnected 15x15 puzzles that make a complete image. GB's resolution doesn't allow for larger puzzles.

3 > Torna > 2 > 1.

I started with 1 and played about half of the game. I liked it but I'm pretty bad with long games. I tend to drop them halfway through.

I preordered X with the plan to go back to 1 and finish it first. That didn't happen so I'm still yet to play X, though that's about to change next week.

I played 2 at launch and loved it. I don't remember when I got Torna but I only played the first couple of hours back then. Then when 3 was about to be released, I revisited Torna and completed it. Made me wish I'd done it sooner.

I started 1's Switch remake immediately after and barely beat it and Future Connected in time before 3 came out. I enjoyed it more the second time around but it's still far from my favorite.

I feared I'd have Xenoblade burnout since I'd just spent couple of months playing Torna and 1 but I jumped into 3 and after the slightly slow start, I was hooked. I prefer 2's combat but I think 3 has the strongest cast of characters.

I think Xenoblade's strongest asset is its atmosphere. Sometimes you just want to stand on a cliff, appreciate the view and listen to the music.

I've still not read these, but for 100 yen, I'm willing to give it a try.

I've played Gen 2 so many times that I've used both Chikorita and Totodile multiple times despite Cyndaquil being my top pick. I'm not sure if I've ever used Tepig though. I know I've used Snivy and Oshawott and I did 2 playthroughs of White 2 so I feel like I've had to try all three but even if I did, it's been quite some time.

I hope Emboar gets a better design or at least a cool looking Mega Evolution. I like Tepig and Pignite but Emboar is bit ugly.

Super Metroid
I've played through Super Metroid quite a few times but I got the urge to try to get the best ending. It was surprisingly easy. My clear time was 01:43 and I got 64% of all items. Looks like I would've had enough time to collect all items but this was my first "speedrun" so I wasn't sure how it would go. Maybe I'll do another run.

Unicorn Overlord
In the land of elves. Halfway through the game. Bit bored. I play on Tactical which is second to highest difficulty and I'm just steamrolling every battle but I don't really want to switch to higher difficulty midway through the game. Amount of new units has dropped significantly. At the beginning you'd get one or two new units every battle and now I can go hours without encountering a new one.

I've skipped the last couple Pokémon Presents since they tend to contain whole lot of nothing. Some tiny updates to ongoing games I don't personally play. That said, I'll watch this one since Legends will likely be featured.

@Dm9982 Kind of surprised that they even allow starting from later ages for your first game when some of the other options are hidden. Hopefully you get the experience you were looking for now.

I don't think I've ever even tried the N64 version. I was too young to play the original when it was new. I had OoT for Wii VC and I couldn't get adjusted to its frame rate (PAL version). I got the remake with my 3DS and beat it. I also beat Majora's Mask 3D. Collected all the masks too. I don't necessarily want to replay either.

@Dm9982 What I'm saying is that it shouldn't do that for Antiquity, only for Exploration and Modern age. Civilizations and leaders are decoupled in 7. I was asking for the civ specifically.

@h3s Maximum map size on Switch is Small which is one size smaller than the current largest size in other versions, Standard.

@Dm9982 The game should start with just the founder unit. Starting from a later age simulates the earlier ages by giving you cities and units at the start. From what I've heard, some options aren't even unlocked until you've started your first game, though as I've not played the game myself, I can't say if starting from later age is one of them. What civ were you playing as?

Worth mentioning that console versions haven't been shown much in general. The most we got was when it was featured in a Nintendo Direct. All the reviews are for PC.

I believe all versions are handled internally so they should share most of the code base. They also have cross-play and cross-progression. So, on paper, there shouldn't be much to worry about but it is weird that there's so little information about them. Then again, Civ has always been PC game first. One would hope console reviews are out before release.

Also, couple of interesting tidbits from Civ 7's FAQ. These are things that have been known for a while but are worth bringing up again.

• "The Nintendo Switch version only supports the Duel, Tiny, and Small map sizes; it does not support map sizes of Standard and above. For cross-play multiplayer games with players on Nintendo Switch, these map size restrictions will apply."
• "Sid Meier's Civilization VII does support dual-gen entitlements digitally for PlayStation and Xbox, which grants both versions of the game across generations of consoles from the same family."

Standard is the largest map size at launch. I had honestly forgotten about this restriction. I guess it's one way of ensuring better performance. Also makes sense from cross-play perspective.

The second point makes me hopeful that Switch 2 is treated the same way. I'm willing to buy the Switch version as long as I don't need to buy it again later.

Took a quick peek at PC reviews earlier. I'm interested in how Switch version will fare. I hope it runs better now that the game has been developed with cross-platform in mind from the start.

@vio Because there are bunch of people who don't know what Fatal Fury, Neo Geo or SNK are and thus would never end up buying the better version from eShop but they already have access to NSO so they may try it and find it fun, leading them to discover all the other stuff. Some people also grew up with these console ports. Not everyone had access to arcades or money for Neo Geo. I, for example, played Samurai Shodown and Fatal Fury 2 on Genesis when I was a kid.

Unicorn Overlord
Started today. Already liking it. "Frederick" of this game feels even stronger than they do in Fire Emblem. Speaking of FE, I found it funny that they have a support system but it's called rapport instead.

Just Shapes & Beats
I think I bought this game at launch but only ended up playing the first couple of stages with my sister. I'm about to finish the story, I think. Simple but fun game.

Iconoclasts
Current game trial. I've only played the first hour so I don't have much to say.

Ys: Book I & II
Wii VC. Played through Book I years ago and recently started Book II on a whim. Plays and sounds like I remembered.

I've played The Hobbit for GBA. I thought it was pretty good (but ugly) when I was 12. Don't know what I'd think of it now. I haven't played it since then.

@Steve6cupcakes I guess I should. I play 99% in handheld mode so I never use them but now that you mention, I guess they do cover the sync button.

I started playing Fitness Boxing recently and my problem is that I keep turning off my right Joy-Con because the way you hold the controller while boxing means you'll have your fingers against the sync button. If this image is to be believed, the sync button remains in the same position. Not surprising. It's a great spot for it otherwise.

The ultimate life form.

66 games, 406 hours. Most played games: Persona 5 Royal, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line and SteamWorld Heist II. All 3 at 50 hours or so.

This year had two months where I barely touched my Switch. July had 3 hours because I was in Japan for the first half of the month and November had 3 because I just haven't been in the mood lately. I was excited for multiple August/September releases and the only one I actually finished was SteamWorld Heist II. Zelda and Emio took a backseat meanwhile I haven't even touched Investigations 2 yet.

Got the 5 wins in a row thing on second try with Mewtwo + Pidgeot. I got 2 identical Zapdos from a rare pack a while ago and used them for few battles but they are just too inconsistent for me. I do have 2 Pikachu now as well but I haven't used them. I don't battle all that often. Mainly during events.

Never bothered watching since it's always at night and all I hear are complaints. The only part I've ever seen live was Game of the Year for 2022 because it was still on when I woke up and I had nothing better to do. We all know how that went.

I've always disliked Hoenn's water routes. I'm sure I've listed my reasons once if not twice before, but I'll do it again.

How come water types are the most common Pokémon of all, even more common than normal types, and yet we can only encounter the same 2 Pokémon lines on every water route while surfing? One, of course, is the Tentacool line which were already abundant in previous two generations. The other line is Wingull which you've already caught because they are at the beginning of the game.

Underwater has limited amount of encounters too but at least they are unique and restricted to the seaweed. I actively avoid diving unless I have to because it's just boring. Mostly due to slow movement speed.

Both are pretty bland. Voted Western though.

Base dex: 173/226. Haven't spent any money and never will. Was lucky enough to pull a rare pack once. I see absolutely no reason to go for every alternate art. Seems very unnecessary.

Can't fully appreciate the detail due to image quality. The land masses contain some weird artifacts when clicked. The tank looks bad when stretched and also seems to be missing some blocks of color when compared to the ones that show up when you click them. Seems like they were on a black background that someone removed but did bad job at it and removed some of the effects with it. I guess the image was already a jpg at that point. I know the source says Dotemu so you may have received them like this but I'd like to think they'd provide high quality images when they want to highlight the art.

Anyway, a minor complaint. As for the game itself, I'm happy Leona, Ralf and Clark are in. I'm very much behind when it comes to recent releases but I'll pick this up as soon as I have time to play it.

@ViewtifulCool You can click a developer or publisher to see their average review score on this site. Nintendo has average of 7.51. For comparison, Sega is at 7.04, Square Enix is at 7.24 and Capcom even beats Nintendo with its 7.61. I don't really see bias here.

I would've never even noticed the bent corners. That's a nice detail that they didn't need to implement, and that's all it is.

NA/Europe looks like every other Sonic cover. I like how Shadow is literally a shadow in Japan's art but the seam between the two is bit weird looking.

This was a nice thing to wake up to. Downloaded it instantly.

Well, this came out of nowhere. Never got around to playing the Wii U version despite buying it at launch. My plan back then was to finish the first game which I'd played up to Eryth Sea but I didn't get around to it until the Definitive Edition. I think I'll buy this so I have them all on Switch.

@Anti-Matter The review mentions that there are some minigames that use motion controls but they can be removed from the rotation.

@NinChocolate Kids aren't the target market for the NES set though.

Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
Chapter 6.

Wildfrost
Game Trial. Started yesterday. Fun and pretty deck-building game. Lost my first attempt while getting accustomed to the mechanics but succeeded on my second and third attempt. Just lost my fourth attempt because I was so confident on the last turn of the final boss that I forgot to move my hero.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix
Excellent or better from all songs, including DLC, on Normal. Playing mostly on Hard now which still has some songs I've not done yet, though I've already cleared all the hard songs excluding Negaposi*Continues which I've attempted twice.

Nodame Cantabile
Unlocked the rest of daily puzzle modes in Picross DS so I switched over to another game I bought while in Japan. Certainly a more casual rhythm game experience compared to Miku.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
Chapter 5. I've said multiple times that my pace has been slow due to playing other games but I feel like the pacing in the game itself could be better too.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix
I discovered yesterday that they'd added new songs since I last played and they happened to be on sale so I got them.

Various other games. Just beat Metal Slug 2 and Gradius ReBirth earlier today.

Saw couple of these in Ueno when I visited.

Europe. It makes the character look like a cool guy who has all these legendary Pokémon and he just sent them out.

I have more nostalgia for the box art than I have for the game. I used to see it in toy catalogues and had it on my Christmas list for multiple years but I never got it or a GameCube. I got to play the game once in some shop that had the rare demo kiosk (you don't see demo kiosk too often where I live) and I was in awe. I finally bought the game years later (2010?) but it didn't live up to my childhood memories. I'm yet to beat it.

SteamWorld Heist II
All stars from all stages, veteran difficulty, just the final boss left. I think this is the time to give my final thoughts since it's the last time it appears on my list.

There isn't much wrong with the game but it lacks the impact the first game had. It plays things too safe. It's the same game again but twice as long. The story is basic and dialogue lacks substance. I was afraid the real-time overworld combat would distract from the experience but it was honestly pretty good addition. Turn-based combat hasn't changed much but I liked mixing and matching skills.

SteamWorld Heist was so good I finished it and instantly wanted to replay it on harder difficulty. I completed it twice in very short time. I don't see myself going back to Heist II anytime soon.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
Chapter 4. I enjoyed the talk with Kuze's grandma. Progress is still slow because my original goal was to beat SteamWorld Heist II before Emio came out. Now I'm really behind the release schedule as Investigations Collection also came out and I want to play it too. It will have to wait for now.

Samurai Shodown VI
I have friends coming over in couple of weeks and one of them wants to try out SamSho VI since it has a weird roster. You can play as Galford's dog, Poppy, as well as the other animal buddies. I dug out Anthology to check which controllers it supports. I only have one Classic Controller Pro so the other player has to use a Wiimote.

Anyway, I decided I'd just quickly beat the arcade mode while I'm at it. I picked a random character and got Earthquake. I did pretty good and finished all matches before the first mini-boss without using continues. The mini-boss wasn't that hard either. Then it was just a boss after boss. I was already ready to be done after Zankuro but there was one more boss after him. I'd player for about an hour so far, I thought I'd be done in another 30 minutes. WRONG. It took me 2 hours to beat that final boss. SNK boss syndrome is real.

Picross DS
I did all the regular puzzles. Now I'm just doing daily Picross because I'd completely ignored it until now. You have to play for certain amount of days to unlock all the modes.

Adventure Bar Story
Started playing this on a whim. It's almost a good game. I'm not that fond of the default RPG Maker look. I think the game would benefit from randomly generated dungeons since it seems to make you go through dungeons multiple times for materials.

I found a way to make infinite money and experience in the first hour of playing. One would think they'd have limited the amount of water you can take from the well each day but no, you can just fill your pockets with water, walk 30 steps to the store and sell it all. Rinse and repeat. You can then use that money to buy ingredients, turn them into food and eat it for experience. Pretty funny stuff. I won't abuse it too much.

I've followed Civ news closely since Gamescom and I really like the changes they've made, at least in theory, we'll see how well it actually plays.

We should get Switch successor news by the time Civ 7 comes out so I can't yet say which device I'll play it on. My hope is that I can buy the game for Switch and then it just works on the next generation with better performance. That way I wouldn't have to wait but I also wouldn't be stuck with inferior version forever unless I buy the same game a second time. If that doesn't happen, I'll either wait or buy it for PC.

StreamWorld Heist II
Progress has been bit slower lately. I got my 7th (playable) crew member yesterday. I don't think I had this problem with the first game but the banter is kind of boring. There's lot of text but hardly any of it is meaningful. The actual gameplay is still great.

Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club
This is the demo. About to start chapter 2. So far, it's exactly what I expected.

Tetris Effect: Connected
Trying this one out thanks to Online trials. I'd heard good things and from the little I played, it truly seems to be the best way to experience Tetris and I bet it's even better in VR.

Picross DS
Free picross, world 7. This game has a lot of content and none of it is recycled unlike in later games where they use the same puzzles for mega picross as a quick way to double the content.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team
Had an urge to play it earlier this week. I thought I'd just defeat Skarmory and that would be enough but I haven't stopped. About to go beat Zapdos next. I have plenty of Mystery Dungeon games I've never beaten, yet I'm playing this one again.

SteamWorld Heist II
Entered the cold area. Took a short break to finish up Yoku's Island Express.

Yoku's Island Express
Beat the game yesterday. Did the last two things I needed for 100% today. I was afraid the game wanted 0 deaths for completion since it had a death counter but instead it wanted you to "die" 50 times for a short inconsequential quest which honestly isn't much better. Didn't have fun killing myself 20-30 times to unlock the quest. Small gripe on otherwise awesome game.

Picross DS
Five 25x20 puzzles left in normal category. I've done the first two sets from free mode.

Lock 'n Chase
Randomly decided to play this yesterday. I picked it up for 3DS before eShop closed. This is my first time actually playing it. Fun little Pac-Man clone. First 3 worlds done.

I already pre-ordered it but might as well start early.