MatthewTaranto

So awesome! Will buy the moment it comes out, I loved SoR4. And all the new free stuff is promising as well--Mania+, extra palettes, new moves. My cup runneth over.

Castlevania III is one of those games that I just don't like nearly as much as everyone else. Its level design is brutally, unfairly difficult, particularly in the last third or so.

Love the original Castlevania though.

I'm surprised the other Mega Man games didn't rank in the Top 50. MM4, 5 and 6 aren't amazing but they're consistently enjoyable.

Is this game really worse than Castlevania: The Adventure on Game Boy?

For me, FF3/6 is so far ahead of the rest of the series (and most other RPGs period) that it's crazy. To date, it still has my favorite soundtrack, storyline, cast, and ending of any game. It's basically the Les Miserables of video games. And thanks to the severe lack of FF3 characters in the top characters poll, I made my own:

10. General Leo
9. Edgar
8. Shadow
7. Ultros
6. Sabin
5. Terra
4. Celes
3. Cyan
2. Locke
1. Kefka

2nd favorite FF is 2/4, 3rd is 9. I suppose...7...would be a distant fourth.

The chibi style isn't the problem, it's the lack of polish on everything. Compared to something like Link's Awakening, the textures, lighting and models are very flat and basic.

@Bearzilla823 The issue is with pulling digital copies from the eShop, not limited physical releases.

Fun article, although I wish all the lists were from ten to one, rather than just the final one. Here're my rankings:

10. Oracle of Ages
9. Oracle of Seasons
8. A Link Between Worlds
7. Majora's Mask
6. A Link to the Past
5. Link's Awakening
4. The Wind Waker
3. Breath of the Wild
2. Ocarina of Time
1. The Legend of Zelda

Nice write-up on the original Zelda and some of the reasons it's such a masterpiece. It's still my favorite game in my favorite series, and as another commenter mentioned, one of the most repayable games in the series due to the quick intro, relatively short runtime, nonlinearity, and second quest.

It's a magnificent game and any modern Zelda fan should give it a shot--ideally with access to the game's included map/tip sheet.

That said, it's not nearly as abstruse as its reputation would have you believe. The only thing you're missing out on by not obsessively burning bushes and blasting rocks is a couple heart containers and rupees. All the mandatory stuff is reasonable enough to figure out once you know a few of the rules (bombable areas are always on the south side of walls on the overworld and always in the middle of the screen in dungeons, for instance). With the possible exception of the quirky Level 7 entrance.

Plus, that second quest! That's some serious value for the dollar, especially back in the day. It'd be like if Super Mario Bros immediately continued into The Lost Levels.

@Ryu_Niiyama Thank you for such a nice message! It's always nice to hear from people who've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of my stuff.

@TeamRocket47, I don't believe we take comic submissions, but try contacting NF's editor in chief Lucas M. Thomas on Twitter.

Thanks for the link, NL! I know a lot of you are located in Europe and it was a very difficult decision to not ship worldwide, but I've had a devil of a time in the past with shipping overseas. Various intl postal services have lost dozens and dozens of my packages, leading to unhappy customers and me footing the bill to send out more books (which in addition to replacing the books themselves can cost as much as $50 postage per package)! It's been frustrating...

@TeamRocket47 I wish there was a way I could reorder, like, 200 of the things rather than the minimum of 1000!

Thanks for the lovely review, NL! We're currently working on getting the game to regions outside of the US.

This kind of thing is right up my alley. What a fascinating time in the game industry.

NL, thank you for spreading the word (and for the good review)!

Streets of Rage 4 was great.

Otherwise, not my favorite year, but there were some solid Switch games. A few not mentioned here that I enjoyed include Clubhouse 51, Trials of Mana, and the fantastic Bug Fables.

The visuals are pretty distracting IMO (I'm pretty spoiled by the amazing Streets of Rage 4) but it's cool to have a modern Double Dragon, so I'll keep my eye on it.

Ditto the comments vis-a-vis DQXI's quality. It's my second-favorite game of the entire decade (behind only BotW) and is a magnificent JRPG. The story managed to punch me in the gut more than Mother 3 did!

DQB2 is also a superlative game and would've probably been my favorite game of 2019 had DQXIS and Cuphead not released on Switch that year.

I don't get the "We don't know who Five Dates is aimed at" complaint. Isn't it aimed at pretty much the same market any dating sim is aimed at? What's the confusion?

My running theory is that Lost Levels (SMB2 Japan) stages would eventually be added or purchase-able. It seems like the simplest way to do things since both games share an engine and most visual assets are identical.

This happened to me last night, it was awesome. Still won!

What happens is someone goes to 4-1 and clears out a couple Lakitus. Other people start reaching the level and do the same. Once there are a few Lakitus, people are more likely to use the POW block, which kills them all, and if they're set to Attackers, all those get sent to multiple people, etc.

It's like a virus!

@nessisonett

It's a pun. You know, "Kong Quest," like "conquest"?

Don't feel bad, it took me about a decade to realize it myself.

Ancel does deny the accusations in his response, although there's obviously a bit of a language barrier so it's not the cleanest reply. Anyway, it all sounds like the usual "he said, she said" stuff. Unless there's a solid amount of evidence behind this, I say innocent until proven guilty.

I'm sick of this trial by public opinion junk anyway, where people's dirty laundry (or fabricated dirty laundry) is aired out for all to see and judge.

Looks fun! Great to see it embrace a 3D world again. Hoping the marriage options will at least include some older-looking women though. I love Frontier but the bachelorettes look disturbingly young...

@sketchturner

I agree about Metroidvania--it's always bugged me! (although technically, you could argue that Castlevania aped Metroid with CV2: Simon's Quest, but I think most people are using the term to refer to games more like Super Metroid and SotN).

Originally, "Metroid-vania" was used to describe the Castlevania games that PLAYED like Metroids (SotN, the GBA ones, etc), and then it just kinda morphed into a genre label with all the indies being of that genre.

I much prefer the term "Metroid-like." The credit goes to the discoverer!

Glad to have single-system co-op! Hopefully there's a multi-system wireless local co-op option as well.

This is an amazing game and it's looking like the patch will make it even better!

To those concerned about the difficulty, I'd say don't be. The Hardest and Mania settings are already brutal--these tweaks simply make the mechanics a little smoother and less frustrating. It'll still be very challenging to win (especially with S-Ranks or in Hard Mode).

I don't think they used the term "timeline" correctly--those are just two time periods. Unless they actually mean each of these settings takes place in alternate universes.

Gonna have to pass on this too. The lack of local multi is a bad decision. As another user said, the extra resolution and screen space would've made it very possible to have the menus available onscreen.

@Blizzia
I don't care what year it is, online is not automatically preferable to local multiplayer. I would've loved to play FFCC with my kids and in-laws in a same-room adventure (with only one $300 game system required), but that's not going to happen now thanks to these limitations.

This isn't as funny as the UR MR GAY thing, made even better from Mario Galaxy 2's logo spelling "YA I M, R U?" when read in reverse.

11/12, I got the color one wrong! But that's way closer to red than pink, in my opinion!

My favorite genre is the platformer and Rare has made a ton of fantastic ones. And I don't care for FPSes much at all; I play about one a generation. So when I say Perfect Dark is my favorite Rare game, I think it really says something about how well-made it is.

Give us Rare Replay already!

1994 saw the release of my two favorite games of all time, plus several other strong contenders. I have to vote for it.
Super Metroid, Final Fantasy III/VI, Mega Man X, Donkey Kong '94 (GB), and Donkey Kong Country is quite the lineup, not to mention stuff like Earthworm Jim and Sonic 3/Knuckles.

@PiggyDan16
That's me! Hello

They do have an Easy setting, but it can still be challenging. I love Cuphead (it's probably my favorite indie game) but I do have to be in a specific mood to play it--the kind of mood where I don't mind redoing a boss over and over again to perfect it. Looking forward to the DLC!

I voted 1986, although it's a little tricky since the NES did a test launch in 1985 so I consider Super Mario Bros and other launch games a 1985 title. But with that in mind, the only notable games of '86 (in America) were the following:

-Urban Champion
-Balloon Fight
-1942
-Ghosts n' Goblins
-Gradius
-NES ports of Donkey Kong and DK Jr.

Say what you will about 2020 but it's quite a bit stronger than that puny lineup.

2016 was a pretty sad year as well.

It's not ideal but it's not the worst thing in the world compared to--as many have pointed out--the prices of SNES and N64 games back in the day.

What also bears mentioning is the fact that Walmart has recently lowered the price of all their new games by $10, likely in an attempt to compete with Amazon for game sales. The last few (full-price MSRP) Switch games I've bought new have been 50 bucks.

Not exactly sure where I read it, but I think SMB3's bosses are presented in order of age. So from youngest to oldest, it'd go Larry, Morton, Wendy, Iggy, Roy, Lemmy, and Ludwig. This might be confirmed in that Mario 30th Anniversary book, maybe...?

So glad you didn't leave off DQXI, one of the finest games I've played in many years!

I wonder what people's reactions to this story would be if it was a man throwing his girlfriend out over video games.

Happy birthday, you magnificent game! I remember renting this one Friday, eating pizza and watching TGIF. One of my favorite childhood memories, as was my next birthday when I got it and stayed up all night playing it and eating birthday ice cream. I still run through EarthBound every few years or so and it's as magical as it was when I was 10.

I loved this game and would happily buy some DLC for it!

Are we back to MARIO TEACHES KIDS TO STOMP TURTLES levels of journalism now?? What is wrong with people?

Man, do I wish the Dream Suite was still available so we could check out stuff like this. Why the heck is it gone??

NA is okay. Doesn't really look like anything in the game but it gives you an inkling of what the game is about without having bad composition.

I think Japan's has the former problem, where it looks decent as official art but doesn't convey enough information about the game.

EU's is the worst, in my opinion. A close-up of a zombie's blurred, black-and-white face on a blank background. I guess they were going for a spooky minimalism thing, but it just comes across as lazy. And it kind of crosses over into nasty and unpleasant, I dunno.

I think the art looks nice!

It's not like Toriyama's art is completely cut anyway--if the Slime and Sabercat are anything to go by, his monster design (which has always been my favorite of his works anyway) is very much present and accounted for.

Dragon Quest XI S was amazing, one of the best games I've played in years!

It's an incredible game in its own right (80+ hours in so far), but I also hope more third parties look to titles like this for examples of how beefy games can still look great on the Switch.

@Kriven
Based on the art here, she's got the body of an adult. As stated by @BLD, it's possible her clothes are just baggy in a specific way, but she's weirdly busty-looking. Bart Simpson is a more accurate cartoon representation of a 10-year-old, and he's yellow!

The Pokemon characters seem to hit puberty years before real people do.

That girl looks way older than 10.

Well-deserved for a fantastic RPG! But how does 300K in a week compare to other Japanese DQ releases?

What I'm really curious about are the American sales numbers...