MarioPhD

@manu0 Yeah, I'm extremely disappointed by the framerate. I was hoping it'd be fixed and didn't want to hold out for a review, but even in the starting town it's rough, and it's left me mighty discouraged about progressing from here.

In North America we don't appear to have ANY downloadable titles for Gold coins anymore. I assumed we'd get more, but I don't see anything. Had I known, I would have spent them, since getting 30% off a game I already own is worthless to me.

@WiltonRoots Honestly, my disappointment with the Gamecube is why I gave up on gaming and took a hiatus from roughly 2004-2010. I got a Wii from my wife for my birthday back in 2010, I think it was, since I really wanted to play Twilight Princess and was excited about the forthcoming Skyward Sword. Despite its zealots, I never clicked with Wind Waker, didn't like Sunshine, didn't like Pikmin, didn't care about Mario Kart or Smash since I'm usually a single player kinda guy..... there was really nothing for me there, try as I did. For me personally the Gamecube era of Nintendo just wasn't very good at all. The Wii had a very small number of games I actually played and wanted. If I didn't have my PC back then, I would have probably been bored of gaming again and gone on another lengthy hiatus. Aside of a bit with the slow start for the Wii U, it didn't take long to have a MASSIVE back catalog of games I don't think I could finish within the next year, honestly. When I had a Wii I needed to actively hunt for things I actually wanted to buy. Now, there's more to get than I can afford, and for what I have, it's already too much. I can see where, obviously, depending on one's taste, the Wii U could still be seen as a dud, but for me, it's been their best system in a VERY long time. Maybe not as many legendary games, no definitive Mario 64- or Ocarina Of Time-level of redefinition of gaming and/or genres, but a lot of truly great titles that will be reflected on fondly once its sales failure isn't directly shaping how people feel about it.

For me, I think I'd have to go: SNES, NES, Wii U, N64, Wii, Gamecube. But that obviously includes a whole mess of bias and nostalgia. I'd probably rate the N64 lower if I didn't get mine before Christmas came and play the heck out of it with all my friends jealous that I got mine before they did, getting 100% in Mario 64, and having my mind blown by Ocarina of Time.... but I can't pretend that wasn't all part of it for me.

@LetsGoRetro Smash Brothers? Mario Kart? Pikmin? Also, regardless of exclusivity, Breath of the Wild looks poised to be amazing, Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, HD renditions of two great Zelda titles, a host of indies that trounce anything on WiiWare... Not to mention being one of those folks who actually really enjoyed Star Fox Zero.... On an incredibly subjective level (obviously) I think there's a lot to love about the Wii U.

I feel like most other Nintendo systems in the past were, for me, a couple good games, and that was it. I have found tons that I've played for dozens of hours. For me personally, the Wii, GameCube, and N64, despite having a few incredibly good games that hold up, never had a consistent level of appeal and quality for me. The Wii U has been a consistently great console for my taste and actually got me to care about franchises like Smash and Mario Kart.

But, to each their own, and I'm an anomaly.

Ignoring sales, I think that the Wii U is an infinitely better console than the Wii. I'll also confess that titles like Mario Galaxy for some reason never really worked for me, but honestly, looking at the major iterations on Nintendo's key franchises, I think that the Wii U is Nintendo's best console since the SNES. If it had sold 80 million units up to now, I'd be willing to guess lots more folks will agree, but the sales have definitely doomed the Wii U's legacy, until people go back and reflect fondly on it like many (myself included) have done with the Dreamcast.

Question: will the Nindie Summer Jam discount also be in place for when it hits 3DS, or should I grab it now to secure the discounted price when it does? I'm more interested in playing it on 3DS.

I'm not too proud to take the 30 free coins. I'll probably never touch it, but hey, at worst, free Metroid 2 for me....

@JaxonH I've had the same question. It doesn't seem to have an obvious cost as far as I can tell, other than taking a couple more button presses than a standard attack.

@stegsaurus So far so good! I'm on a bit of a JRPG kick at the moment. Been playing through SMT#FE and now this, so lots of turn-based goodness. I'm digging it so far, though. I am questioning if this structure will work for me for the whole 100 hour runtime, but I'm on the second past island (with the fire god and such), but if they play with it thoughtfully and do some cool stuff with the interactions between islands in the present as it moves forward, I think it'll progress nicely.

I've never played a DQ game, though, and I can say that I'm pleased with the goofy and imaginative enemies I've seen so far!

@Smoo They will become: RC SKUNK. That's a logo just waiting to happen.

My copy should be in my mailbox when I get home from work today, and I'm very excited. I've been craving a game that's got some exploration and island discovery elements to it since for some reason I have Skies of Arcadia on the brain, and it sounds like this may scratch some small parts of that itch with some RPG goodness. Thanks for the opening tips!

@EllenJMiller What I wouldn't give for a 3DS port of Skies of Arcadia. That and Shenmue were my favorite Dreamcast games, and they've been criminally neglected by Sega ever since.

The six people still playing Words With Friends must be really dedicated.....

Suddenly those Pokemon Go Plus delays make some sense.....

I'd like to echo the pro-Android sentiments, since I'm sure it'll come there in due time, but I'm super-disappointed to see them leaving that massive user base in the dust just to piggyback off Apple's press conference coverage.

People seem confused about why Nintendo going third party would be a bad idea, but I'd be stunned if all their major IPs weren't hacked to bits and auctioned off to Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Sony for exclusives which insure you need several consoles to play all of their games instead of just one.

I feel like this would be a shining example of where and how Amiibo allow this kind of thing to happen. Then, Nintendo got their money for the figure, and it's simply a matter of adding a little goodie to the mix, and one only accessible with the Amiibo, so they still very much have control over the IP and appearance of Samus. I feel like it'd be a nice little anniversary present for the franchise, but alas.

Has everyone already forgotten how hideously awful their press conferences used to be? Or seen how awful every E3 press conference is now? Sure, there were a few good moments in Nintendo's past, but they're outnumbered by cringe 2:1, I'd say, if not more.

Everyone seems to think where they went wrong was by not simply doing what everyone else does, but this is the one thing Nintendo has done unequivocally right in the last few years. Do you really want new NX titles shown like Nintendoland was a few years ago? Dear god. Make the message punchy, fast, and clear. You don't get that with a press conference. It's a bunch of horribly scripted fluff, poorly executed and timed by people with no business commanding an audience. Just... Please don't. The Wii U didn't fail because Sony and Microsoft did press conferences and they didn't, and you'd have to be insane to think otherwise.

@dkxcalibur I assumed if the game ever came to 3DS it'd pretty much be Super Mario: Player. I'm stunned they got level building working on it, honestly. I don't think I'll get it, though, since I enjoy making courses more than playing them, and sharing is pretty firmly stunted in this version. I'd definitely buy a Player version for $10-$15 from the eShop, but not the "full game" again.

Spoilers: If you Google the game's name, it's a completely free game available online, and one you can play in your computer or phone's browser without paying a cent. You can walk to the soda retailer of your choice, get one, and play the game in its entirety on your phone before you get back, and still enjoy your drink.

With all due respect to MADIAX, anytime one of the games bearing his name appears to have had some respectable spritework in it, I always assume it's something he licensed and brought to the eShop, as appears to be the case here and with other titles like Pixel Slime U.

Ultra. Dolphin. Revolution? Sounds like the developers are Nintendo fans, given that their name comes from three consecutive console codenames (64, Cube, and Wii). Well played! I'm definitely interested in the game, and I feel like it might be more at home on 3DS.

@rushiosan Couldn't agree more. They just lack a certain something to make their games more than mediocre. Not sure what. An imaginative spark, perhaps? I felt precisely the same about Mudds as well, especially with all the good things I'd read heading into it. They make perfectly adequate indie games, and in today's market, even on Nintendo systems, it's just not good enough.

Good. I don't want to see every third party publisher testing the waters with a 6-month old game that won't sell since it'll be $30 on the other platforms, and nobody will buy the NX version. Then, just like the Wii U, that will be the excuse used to pull support. This would be the next Mass Effect 3 on the NX launch, so I'd rather they didn't bother, and stick to new releases.

One of my guilty pleasures is sports games. Love 'em. I've been getting by with Madden 13 since the launch of the Wii U, even though it still routinely crashes my console and forces a restart since it was a sloppy launch port. For the love of god PLEASE give me at least one legit Madden game for the NX. That's all I ask. I'd happily waste $60 each year for the new, glorified roster update if I could, but please give me at least one!

I'd love an NX reveal at this point, but I'm more than happy to just get an announcement OF the eventual announcement so we can quit being completely blind and at least know when we'll know anything even remotely sure about this thing.

I think they need to do one of two things.

1.) Full-blown collections of each franchise with every iteration on them for the NX. So, if we steal the Rare Replay method, give us 2D Mario Replay, 3D Mario Replay, Zelda Replay, Metroid Replay, Kirby Replay, etc. and give people the whole catalog, across all past platforms (home and handheld). Strictly speaking, this could be done right this minute on the Wii U if they wanted to, given its capabilities, emulation, and backwards compatibility. This way people get MASSIVE value, and can own the entire history of franchises they love if the NX proves challenging for backwards compatibility or Virtual Console for whatever reason.

2.) What I've wanted for a while: Eternal Virtual Console. It needs to be its own self-contained application, and it should house everything retro, making it so Nintendo only needs to update a single thing for all past games to work forever. Buy once, own forever. If the NX is matching the rumors we see now, its Android lineage in the form of the NVidia Shield hardware line should make this nothing too challenging, and even if they switch hardware or system architectures in the future, if it's all built into a single application, once it's updated once, it's done, and we get to keep playing classic titles forever on future Nintendo devices. I could see this getting more complicated once we get past the N64, perhaps, but come on. Phone emulators have been doing just fine with all of the pre-GC home consoles and pre-DS handhelds since my EVO 4G in 2010, so I can't imagine why Nintendo can't make the same thing possible on MASSIVELY more powerful hardware in a Tegra X1 (or better).

I can only hope something like these things will be possible, but we'll see. Nintendo has definitely had their head in the sand when it comes to digital pricing for the Virtual Console for some time now, and a new platform will be an ideal time to make for a radical break in their current operating standard, were there ever one.

Price sounds good, and I love the aesthetics. We'll see how it turns out, and if it reviews well, I think I'll get on board.

Thank god for Lego City Undercover finally going into the Selects range in North America! I've been dying to get it at a good price! Don't know if retailers of the game in physical form will actually abide by the new price since even used copies I've found were over $30 in most cases, but if I have to, I'll settle for the digital copy at that price without hesitation.

An ad-supported hosting of this stuff on their own site would almost certainly make Nintendo some money.... Begging the question of why not do it themselves? I say that out of concern that Nintendo will slap them with a C&D and/or DMCA takedown or something. Can't imagine it wouldn't be profitable, or if nothing else, offer access for free as a way to advertise things like, say, nostalgic fun like one might have with the NES Classic Mini...?

@gamermole Not bad! I'd recommend adding in your name as a watermark instead of off to the bottom like that, however, so that people don't just crop it out and steal credit for it. You never know!

I mean.... It's cute and all.... But I can't imagine people would be jazzed about needing to tap a different cart every time they want to play a different game. I don't recall people being at the height of whimsy when Nintendo forced people to use amiibo to roll dice in party games, and this is the same. Especially since the NFC chips definitely don't hold enough data to hold entire games, so it would just be a more annoying way to change games that are preloaded onto the system when you can have the same effect by moving your thumb a fraction of a centimeter a couple times on a controller.

Again, cute and nostalgic, but somehow better? Not so much.

I might grab this. I have it on PC, but haven't tried it yet. For $20 new it's worth checking out for me, under the condition that it doesn't have the rampant screen tearing of the port of DS2 at launch. I can't imagine that'd be the case, but, you never know.

@rushiosan If nothing else, they need a mode like For Glory in Smash so people can play with the powerup if they want, and let it be extremely competitive for those who want it that way. Sure, it divides the player base, but then everyone's happy. Without that roadblock in place, if I really liked Blastball, I may well have bought MP:FF just to access it, as I've been craving a Rocket League equivalent, and I'm not going to play just that one game on my PC. Alas.....

@tysonfury Very true. And we've already seen this sort of thing being done by folks like Razer with the connection between the Razer Blade/Stealth and the Razer Core. Just looked up a video review for that combo, and it seems to run at about a 85-90% of full-on desktop computer power. That way, it works on its own, can connect to a TV if desired, and also, be powered up by a Nintendo-equivalent of a Razer Core to make it run at modern standards and beyond for playing on the home TV. This could be done while also having a rock-solid (and less expensive) handheld device serving as a standalone. I would wonder about costs at that point, but otherwise, I don't see why it wouldn't work and still be able to match/exceed current hardware with the increased performance that can be squeezed out of not having the overhead of a desktop OS involved.

Two things. One: what was the deal with getting kicked out of the mechs? It seemed to happen at random, and I hated that with a passion. Two: is it just me, or do the shots you're firing seem to not actually go toward the ball itself half the time, even when you're locked on? I felt like my shots were connecting less than half the time.

I was hoping for this, due to the visuals and style and all, to essentially be Nintendo's answer to Rocket League..... yeah, no, it's not that. I'd consider it, at its best, about a 5. If it felt more precise, and there weren't random moments of losing your ability to actually play and getting cheap goals scored on you, I think it could easily be a 7 or better, but yikes. What a disappointment.... and that's coming from someone who had very low expectations from the start.

@erv It'll be a headset for using on iOS and Android that turns them into VR devices. Actually.... that could make a lot of sense....... and I hope that's not the case, but who knows? I'd rather see Nintendo stay culturally relevant and continue to make cool and interesting things than fall into obscurity because they refuse to be part of the future.

Not to say mobile devices or VR are the future, but just that I'm open to them experimenting to stay relevant.

Oh boy.... a positive review of a game on mobile devices, that's free to play? This is going to be a fun comment section.

Snark aside, I'm a grad student on a college campus, so it's a blast for me: my building has 3 PokeStops in it, and a gym within a minute's walk. If you're in a really interesting area, it's a blast, and the feedback loop of the game is incredibly fun and addictive. I love it and play it all the time. Thanks to the PokeStops, I don't have to pay a dime for the Pokeballs or anything, but otherwise, I could see where folks would have issues with it.

In short, I think your fun with this game hinges on where you live, what's around you/where you work, and what you're willing to do/pay to have fun with the game. If you have an open mind and good luck regarding those things? It's a ton of fun. At this stage it's probably the most buggy app I've ever used this regularly, but, it's nonetheless a ton of fun in the right environment and with the right state of mind.

Edit: I honestly think this is the best mobile game I've ever played. I've played tons of them, bought dozens of Humble Bundles and own hundreds of Android games that aren't F2P and come from big and small publishers and developers, and for me this still tops them all. It's a ton of fun, and I don't see me stopping anytime soon.

Speaking from a very personal example, Pokemon Go reminds me a good deal of Hyrule Warriors in the sense that sometimes a game's mechanics need the right skin on them to become really appealing. Sure, Invizimals or whatever it is did something similar much sooner, but I don't care about a bunch of Street Sharks rejects with metal bits tacked on them. Sometimes, I really do think a game (like Ingress) needs the right skin on it for people to truly like it and care about it. That's why I think Pokemon Go is a big hit; it took good ideas in terms of gameplay and mechanics and used an appropriate skin to get people invested.

@ottospooky I'd say that depends. Clash of Clans and Candy Crush are currently still in the top 5 for Grossing on Android, despite launching almost 3 years ago and 4 years ago respectively. I see no reason why Pokemon Go couldn't do the same if they keep people invested and keep adding features, since the IP value of something like Pokemon is infinitely higher than titles like those, or at least possesses a much longer cultural legacy.

@gatorboi352 I think they're stunned, and I know I am. I feel like they should start blitzing as hard as they can now: I'd love to see more of the anime series on Netflix, Virtual Console releases of the games they're not making money off of anymore because buying new is essentially impossible (like Fire Red, Leaf Green, HeartGold and SoulSilver on Wii U and/or 3DS), sales on Wii U and 3DS Pokemon titles to celebrate and capitalize on renewed interest in the property on a massive scale..... it's time to go all-out and sustain this interest as much as they can.

I was worried people wouldn't care at all, but I haven't been so pleased to be wrong in a VERY long time. I mean, I doubt this'll last forever, and in time it'll just be hardcore Pokemon fans invested in continued play, but I hope Nintendo pushes HARD to keep this going now that it's happening.

I think you said it well, though: it's EXCITING. Something I haven't felt from Nintendo since the Wii U was announced. I was thrilled about it myself, but the sales failure dampened my love of the system pretty quick. It's nice to be reminded why Nintendo is so important to the games industry, and that they have the power to capture our imagination.

I see bars in Tallahassee, FL are actually setting up lures and phone charging stations to have a Pokemon Pub Crawl this weekend, which sounds amazing, and at once reinforces and breeds the idea that this is a true cultural phenomenon, and not just something for sad Nintendo fanboys (spoken as someone who very much is one of those, and has been for a good long time).

I didn't see this coming, but stuff like this is brilliant and suggests this won't be another Miitomo flash in the pan for Nintendo. It's topping downloads AND grossing in the Play Store..... man, I didn't know if Nintendo would ever do it again, but I think they may have finally been able to make something that's capturing the public's imagination in ways I didn't see coming, and crucially, not just children this time around.

Every year, people make a big deal out of Prime day; every year I have no idea why. There are routinely better deals on pretty much everything pretty much every day. The 20% off on Warehouse items, however, ain't too bad.

The perks of being on a college campus; not only are StreetPasses easy to come by, but there's a ton of gyms around here! I can imagine in smaller areas and towns that'd be much less the case, however. I'd be way less into it without all the people and stuff around me.

Hooray for being on Android! Sure, that just means that Google has even more access to everything I do, but in this case, it works out!

So. Many. Server. Issues. It's been incredibly frustrating. Even though I have it in still not touching it for a bit so I can actually enjoy it when I do. Maybe you'll get lucky, but honestly, it's not worth getting early right now, based on my experience anyway.

This is truly a case where a game's release is, indeed, better than nothing.

I fully expect this to be their approach, and if it's not, I'll be disappointed. I want to be able to buy games and know they'll work going forward, and I think third parties would love to know their games will work on all future Nintendo hardware as well if they start an OS-based approach to their systems instead of all of it being completely separate hardware with tons of quirks.

That headline may have been the hardest one to parse I've seen on here to date. What a name!

@CCHawk Honestly, the Splatoon mini games you play while you wait between matches could be bundled into a super-cheap app and I'd probably play the heck out of those. And they all pretty much require 1-2 inputs, so I think it could work well!

@DiscoGentleman @Li_Bae Indeed. Especially since Unreal Engine doesn't have the lengthiest and most positive history with the Wii U as it is. I don't know if there's a single Unreal Engine game on Wii U that doesn't have notable framerate issues. Somewhere between the choice of game engine and lack of optimization, this was likely to be the case. I'm a bit surprised as even fully 3D titles (Arkham titles, for example) in Unreal seem to run a bit smoother than this, so a lack of optimization is almost surely part of the problem as well.

FINALLY! I got this on Club Nintendo so I could upgrade to a Wii U version at some point! It seems that day has come!