Martystuff

Y'all win the reviews with that sub-title.

Initially I was weirded out by the new feel, but I do really love it. What truly won me over was the fact that my partner, who hated the previous one, loves this, because it kind of leveled the playing field and let her learn with me. So I love it, but I'll echo some other sentiments - it's great but needs some stufffff. Nintendo please give us: more battle modes, grand prix classic as an option, some kind of list mechanism to track progress, more to do in free roam, and a rationally-implemented character selection screen. It's madness.

I love mine, can't wait for DKB. I think my major gripe with the console proper is handheld battery life, but that's life in the big city, I suppose.

Great review. I really love you all finding space for all the 'hot takes,' it adds so much wonderful depth to the already-excellent review. Takes me back to the old EGM grid days. I'm sure it resource-intensive, and really appreciate it.

I love this news. Part of me is like 'Do Animal Crossing with a sudden update next!' while part of me just wants an all new Animal Crossing from ground up. I wants it all!

I love it so much, I think of it as 'initiating self destruct sequence' in Sci Fi computer voice.

Got one, but it was a chaos factory of madness. I didn't know web sites could break like that, I'm pretty sure Target was speakingin tongues.

I hear you, but disagree with the overall point. You’ve made many of my counterpoints in your argument, but I’ll emphasize them and make a couple others.

First, to say that covering costs is a ‘weak argument’ glosses over many details that I’m not privy to, and I’d look for more elaboration.

More subjectively, let me say that I would pay $80 for the game, but I’d be crabby about it. However, I hopefully won’t have to due to the pack-in, which is an important point. This in itself shows a measured approach and a somewhat new flexibility from them.

While I dislike this $80, they’ve quietly demonstrated in the Switch years a new kind of pricing flexibility, and I suspect this is their new ‘top tier’ – what we’d see out of an equivalent large-scale flagship game. I’m heartened to see that DK is a little easier to swallow (though raise an eyebrow about what that signals for its quality). In the last years we’ve seen some games, new releases, too, jump out at $40, and we’ve also seen a quiet shift to them being open to run many more sales.

While I’m uncomfortable at $80, I like to think about something like an Animal Crossing or ToTK in relation to other entertainments in my life. Maybe I’m a madman, but between those two games, I’ve clocked over 600 hours of entertainment. If you bring the rest of my family into the mix, its thousands of hours. That proposition alone is incredible in light of cost.

I hope that their top tier telegraphs scale and scope of their highest tier, which a new Mario Kart deserves.

In the end, if this is the price they need to have to deliver the kind of experiences they are known for, I’m grumpily here for it (while quietly selling off my classics. Who needs a Cubivore?). For me, their work is unparalleled in the industry, and well worth the price. If that is not true for you, it your right as a consumer to say no.

All that said, I’m curious and concerned to see the Metroid pricepoint…

@Tempestryke neither am i! But! Prime is one of my favorite games ever made. If you haven't ever given it a go, I still recommend. While there is combat, a lot of it is really about discovery and exploration, and in a way the enemies are almost like puzzles.

I just found it to be uneven. For me, The Metroid Prime 4 footage was worth it alone, love seeing more and this direction. I also am so happy to see returns of not one but TWO lost odd ducks in Rhythm Heaven and Tomodatchi.

So in on this, Lil Gator game is an absolute delight. Scratches the Zelda itch with an adorable and fun love letter without trying to imitate, get in on Gator Game.

Ya ha ha I Ko-rock! 12/15, finally something to show for those 100+ hours of my life, cuz I sure as heck haven't beaten that third temple yet. There were some toughies in there! Ok gotta go play more, Penn is calling.

@YoshiFlutterJump second-ing this. I love y'all at N'life and respect the review, but I came in getting ready to type "I don't want to be pedantic, but..."

This game absolutely deserves all the latter day love it receives, such a highlight for that scrappy and weird system.

While I think it flows naturally as in 'tears you might cry from your eyeballs,' I think the dual-meaning makes a lot of sense, as we are seeing lots of footage of Hyrule literally torn apart.

Wow, didn't know anything about it and looks right up my weird-o alley.

Thank you for the Ubi-splain!

NOW we understand. It's for US!

Thanks again, Nicolas, for all of your Strategic Innovations. I'm not sure if it's the strategy I like more, or the innovation, but either way, I'm too dumb to tell them apart.

@doodlewhizz I think that's a solid point, I could definitely see room for more time-locked content, as it's so fun to watch unveil initially.

While I can see that you struggled with how to even consider rating this game, and I appreciate that transparency, I respectfully strongly disagree with your conclusion.

There's one thing we agree on, a traditional metric is a disservice to this game, but I have to assert that, given how important numerical values are to small, independent, and deeply ambitious games, a 5 from a major site such as yours is irresponsible.

For some gamers, myself among them, The Longing is nothing short of extraordinary.

The Longing rewards patience with an incredible and moving gameplay experience. You are constantly instructed to wait, and if you follow this simple prompt, you discover deeply rewarding gameplay that ties fundamentally into characterization unlike anything that's been put into a game.

There is no doubt that it will frustrate many gamers, and that fact should be explicit. But simply trying something new doesn't make it pretentious, nor even audacious – it's simply authentic.

Each frame and moment and secret is beautifully drawn, and for the right gamer, The Longing is a revelation.

This looks very intriguing, I love the art direction and premise. It may cut too close to the bone for a native New Yorker, but I'll keep my eye on it, thanks for the highlight.

Playable dead historical figures, relatives, and pets. IF you have their Amiibos...

Where's the love for Little Nightmares? I'll be digging in to that gem this weekend. I'm also mightily tempted by DK Tropical Freeze and Yonder, though I finally got on the Battle Chef Brigade bandwagon and probably need to see about that magical mashup first.

Nobody asked me if they could use my name or life story for a video game. Unauthorized!

I played the heck out of this game on mobile and will probably play it more on The Switch. Think 'Don't Starve' meets friendly aliens. It's a deep and fun experience.

Stardew got its hooks back into me. Also playing Layers of Fear, but I, too, am mostly swept away by the Splatoon 2 rejuvenation. I just wish they'd improve how they cycle through levels - I feel like I missed so many and now it's hard to get good at newer maps.

Great playthrough, Alex. This game wasn't on my radar at all, and now I'm totally intrigued. Your reactions are pretty priceless.

This was a smart and fun way to contextualize a poll, gang. Way to go. Both fun to read and participate in. Plus, my horse won.

This game quietly stole all of my attention from Odyssey. Fixes would be most welcome, since I can't stop playing it.

Oo! Looks awesome!

It is wild how much of a difference this little Switch has made. I'll probably hop onto Splatoon, but mostly checking out Flame n Flood. I really want to have a go at Stardew Valley, but I'm committed to finishing Golf Story first. It's an embarrassment of riches!

ALL THE GAMES I WANT TO PLAY ARE ON NINTENDO. How have we landed in this alternate universe? (oh, right, the rest of the world is totally effed...)

It's official, there are too many weird-cool Switch Indies I want to play and not enough time in the day. Such problems!

Holy wow that looks tops!

Way to go, @Springloaded !

If Dreamcast games come to the Switch I will always play games all the time forever. And by games I mean Seaman.

I had the oddball and exclusive issue of Link spastically whistling for his horse at random moments without the button command. It was a bit funny to be reminded that "Geddy can't hear you from here" while dropping a bomb on some bokoblins from above, though I started to get a bit annoyed when it messed with my sneaking game. I did a hard reboot of the system and re-connect of the controller and all seems well. No foam for me. Come, Geddy!

@kokirii I definitely pluralize "Pokemon" to "Pokemons" on purpose. Did it today. Because it's funnier to say. I can't make the same argument for the Joy-con...

I'm really happy with my Switch, but if I'm honest, my Switch is currently just a Zelda box. And I love my Zelda box.

It's niiiice. But also kind of mean, right? I mean, the internal storage begs for buying hard copy. So why on Earth would they encourage download? Whatevs, I won't really care unless they ever offer real-life swag again. Then I'll freak out like a giant Nintendo baby man. (Which, not coincidentally, is what I'm doing while I wait for tomorrow.)

Super yay. Though all this cool indie news has me much more trepidatious about that little olde 32 gigs. I need some SD cards with pictures of Animal Crossing characters on them to make me feel better about life. Is that a thing anywhere?

This will definitely usher in lots of local multiplayer in my circle. For me, seeing the improved battle mode on Kart 8 was a huge selling point on The Switch. I regard 8 as the finest entry in one of the greatest game series of all time – with the notable exception of the deeply flawed battle mode. To bring that back around full circle and fix the mode by making it at least appear to mirror the greatest version of Kart Battle (N64) is priceless to me. Effective Kart battling local or online could be an unstoppable system seller, it's so fun it makes my eyes sweat.

This is everything I need ever. I get new Zelda, I stop eating. Centaurs!

I'm pretty accustomed to not counting on storage with Nintendo devices at this point. It mostly just encourages me to keep my games a bit more organized.