MatthewTaranto

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...

Definitely my favorite of all the DLC characters so far. I'll definitely be playing Smash tonight! (assuming the server doesn't explode)

I like both the US and Japanese art, but nostalgia aside, I have to go with the original Japanese box for this poll. Ridley's pose is much stronger and more natural, and Kraid's feet and belly aren't floating above the horizon like in the US one. That said, I do wish Ridley stood out slightly more from the background in the Japanese one, but it's still a lovely piece of art.

Bonus points for the near-imperceptible giant Metroid near the top of the JPN box.

I wasn't particularly impressed with BotW's OST either (considering I feel the rest of the game knocks it out of the park). I actually enjoy the choices for the overworld, but the rest of the music is what I have a problem with.

Hateno, Kakariko, Goron City, the Divine Beasts and the snow theme were all pretty forgettable songs, IMO; after nearly 300 hours of playing, I couldn't hum any of those to you. Zora's Domain sounds like a nice update in a vacuum but you can barely hear it while playing in-game.

The song you really hear the most of is one of the most phoned-in to me: the Shrine theme. It's just meandering and repetitive, a far cry from the strong melodies of Kondo's contributions to the series. Not really a song worth hearing 120 times in the game (plus DLC).

On the other hand, I did really enjoy the main theme, the new Rito/Dragon Roost song, and Hyrule Castle. But overall, I'd say BotW has one of the weaker soundtracks in the series by abandoning the emphasis on strong melodies that made the series' soundtracks what they are. It's not really a huge deal since the rest of the game is ridiculously awesome, but with a better soundtrack, I could see it topping OoT itself in my eyes.

I'm skeptical. As others have said, the pattern repeats in the middle so the original texture is just three stars that happen to have an escalating pattern to them. The note placement is different than the song's, with the second star much higher than it should be. The first star should also be blue to match the A button. And lastly, the picture has nothing to do visually with Zelda or the Song of Storms. I really think this is just a coincidence.

The note placement looks more like the Song of Soaring (which also works better thematically since it's in the sky)! Cue next Easter Egg theory in 3...2...

Dragon Quest basically invented the gaming Hero archetype. You guys complaining about more "anime swordsmen" should direct your complaint to Fire Emblem (and more specifically, how that series has handled its reps). It's not a 1988 character's fault that Smash picked a bunch of swordsmen before him!

Awesome inclusion for a legendary series, I'm over the moon! (and Banjo-Kazooie is a great pick as well. Can't we all just get along?)

The Mario Maker segment was fairly quick (maybe too quick?) and fun to watch on account of it being a new game and having well-designed challenges.

Splatoon was fine but felt similar to past Splatoon matches.

Smash was the real issue. Solely because they made some really bad decisions with the matchups and rules (6 minute timed battles with no Stock??), they turned something exciting and fun into a jumble of chaos. And it took a really long time to get to each match.

I wouldn't say the NWC is in trouble; Nintendo just needs to be smart about how it presents these games and how many matches should be played for each. Step up the pacing and make everything quicker.

I really think it's too early for Switch to be number one. It hasn't even been out two years, and while its launch year was amazing, this last year was merely decent (which is good enough, but hardly beats the 5-6 year lifespans of most of these systems, IMO).

My list:

13. Virtual Boy (Wario is really solid at least)
12. Game Boy Color (Kind of a stopgap system)
11. Game Boy Advance (Some great games like Advance Wars but lots of ports)
10. Wii U (a little light on the mega-hits, but if we're including BotW that helps)
9. Switch (as of now, but it's sure to move up once its completed its lifespan)
8. N64 (not many games, but a few of them are legendary)
7. Game Boy (quite a few hidden gems and was relevant for almost a decade)
6. DS (lots of games and neat tech. Could use a couple more legendary titles)
5. Wii (good innovation and lots of games helps balance out the tech issues)
4. 3DS (all-around strong system)
3. NES (groundbreaking titles and a ton of games)
2. GameCube (fantastic exclusives)
1. SNES (standard-setting controller and the best combined quality and quantity of the Nintendo libraries)

Slime would be my top DQ choice, but I'd still flip a nip for Erdrick. DQ absolutely has to be in Smash at this point and I'd hate if they pass it up entirely after the DLC releases.

@Trajan
@HollowGrapeJ

Maybe, but don't games like God of War and Witcher III already have topless women (and are still M-rated)? The weird thing is, people aren't even buying those games for their sexuality, while a game like this--in which the ladies are clearly the focus--doesn't show as much skin as God of War? It's very strange. Maybe a Japanese/Western dev thing.

I'm no fan of DOA, but I don't really see the issue with games like this existing (outside of it being kind of a goofy concept). There's no evidence that video games promote sexism any more than there is evidence that video games promote violence. Stuff like this is like the gaming equivalent of those trashy romance novels that target women; it's just whatever. And no, the male equivalent wouldn't be muscular guys in thongs because most women don't find "more skin" alone to be appealing in the way men do.

That said, anyone else find it kind of dumb that these games are clearly all about sexuality, but they don't involve any sort of actual nudity? I don't really get what the point is then. If you're gonna do porn, then do it!

Awesome game, even awesome-r soundtrack. Will buy this.

@Trajan Why do you keep making the claim that FF7 is Iwata's favorite game? Why, man!?

@Trajan
Do you have a source on this? The only thing about Iwata's favorite game that I can find is this link: https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/77715

FF7 isn't mentioned there at all.