I haven’t played the game yet so I don’t know how frequent or severe the performance drops are, or how much they’ll impact my enjoyment of the game as a result.
Nevertheless, I have a very strongly held opinion on the matter and anyone who thinks differently is a despicable ignoramus who should feel absolutely disgusted with themselves
This isn’t Miyamoto drawing his line in the sand on the tiresome “can games be art?” debate.
(…Which is just as well, as there is no greater mark of tedious bore than someone who tries to convince you of what “is and isn’t art”.)
This is just one person in the games industry commenting on another’s approach to their work.
Games are incredibly open-ended (multi)media, which invite a range of perfectly valid design philosophies and approaches.
The notion that Miyamoto views his games as ‘commercial goods’ above ‘pure artworks’ (whatever that means) is itself open to interpretation.
One interpretation would be that games are mere money-making machines designed to extract funds from consumers by any means possible.
Another interpretation would be that as the product ultimately ends up in players’ hands, their needs should be kept in mind at all times. Yes, games (and indeed everything sold by businesses) are designed to make profit, but satisfying players with well-made products is the best way ensure brand loyalty and the continued success as a company. I think this is what Imamura is getting at here.
‘Product’ vs ‘artwork’ is not the same dichotomy as ‘short-termism’ vs ‘long-termism’ or ‘anti-consumer’ vs ‘pro-consumer’.
The following tables were designed by different people with different approaches and different audiences in mind.
The world is big enough for all three tables, all three designers, and all three approaches.
@SurprisedRobinChu I’ve managed to avoid this ‘upgrade’ because my Surface Laptop decided to die the day before I had an online interview.
I took it to the shop where I bought it, and they said, “the only way to get this fixed is to send it directly to Microsoft,” then they checked and said “Microsoft is no longer servicing this model.” I bought it about 5 years ago. It’s younger than my Switch. Nintendo only recently stopped taking repair requests for the 3DS.
The next day I picked up a second hand M2 MacBook Air and am hoping it’ll keep me out of Microsoft’s jaws for a while yet.
I don’t consider myself to be ‘boycotting’ (i.e. performatively ‘doing nothing’) Card Keys but as a traditionally physical gamer, I find them sufficiently off-putting that the only way I could imagine buying a Card Key game is if:
A) The digital version gets a DEEP (80%+) discount on the eShop.
B) The Card Key is sold for a similarly big discount secondhand.
In both cases I can think of it as the price of a ‘rental’ and not worry about the fact I might uninstall it to save space later. I don’t need to feel I ‘own’ it if I got it for a steal.
I’ve bought plenty on digital eShop-only games before, but never a full-fat AAA title at full price. The cost (not just financially but also in terms memory space) has always felt quite prohibitive.
I thought this game was being developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The revelation that is being developed by Production Group No. 8 of Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development Division comes as an immense shock.
I got soft locked out of a biscuit tin which took the shine off for me. As far as I’m aware the only option was to start the game from scratch (which would be irritating as I was several chapters in). It’s been a few months since I last checked though, so maybe it’s been patched.
I think most people agree the game is pretty janky and ‘of its time’, which leaves two options:
1) Eliminate the jank: remake it from the ground up to ‘modern standards’.
Iizuka addresses this option here. It’d take a lot of work. May as well make a new game given the effort required.
2) Leave it largely unchanged, as “the jank is part of the game’s charm”.
I’m sure there are quite a few people in this camp, myself included. In which case, just bring it to NSO, and then we can get everything that is “part of the game’s charm” in its original, relatively unadulterated form.
I’m not sure how SEGA would make money off this, but I assume they would somehow — they’ve already put dozens of games on NSO (including a dedicated Mega Drive app) so there must be some benefit for the company.
Anyway, yeah, just stick on NSO and call it a day. Then people will finally be quiet. We’ve already had ‘impossible’ games like Goldeneye and Banjo-Kazooie on the service. Now that GameCube games are available, SA2B doesn’t seem too outlandish a request.
Certainly more reasonable than a full-blown remake.
@BoomingEchoes In @Ogbert’s defence, I don’t think he’s trying to ‘wage a whole battle’ with you; just have a discussion about a topic while giving some relevant examples.
You don’t have to prove anything, but given that you made the original claim, it would be nice if you could prove something — or could at least be bothered to make the effort.
As an ignorant outsider, I could be persuaded either way, but I’m heavily leaning towards the party that has actually tried to substantiate their claims.
You could well be right, but so far you’ve failed to be very convincing.
I think it’s less availability issues with the game and more availability issues with the console.
As @GetontheStiix has pointed out, the MK8 already has an incredibly high attach rate (a minimum of 1,044,044/1,241,162 ≈ 84% which I assume includes bundles though I’m not sure about separate digital downloads). And like @WiltonRoots says, you’re unlikely to purchase a game for a console you don’t own.
In general it hasn’t been possible to pick up a Switch 2 in Japan without going through some sort of lottery system, either at a retailer or through Nintendo’s online store.
Currently, the online store is ‘between lotteries’ which means that it’s impossible to even register that you’d like to have the chance to purchase a console, even if you meet all the conditions (over a year’s NSO membership as primary account holder + 50 hours of gameplay logged + resident of Japan).
I can’t get my hands on a console (I'm part of a family plan), and I’m sure there are plenty of people in the same boat. And almost none of us have Mario Kart.
@TheBigK If my attempts at sleuthing are correct, the current ‘2025’ poster is the original and the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker was just pasted erroneously on top (which is why it looks a bit weird, doesn’t fully cover the ‘2025’ text box, and also partially covers Samus’ hand).
To fix it, all they (presumably) had to do was peel off the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker while praying to not damage the poster underneath. And it seems like they did a very good job!
@Olliemar28 I don’t think the poster has been ‘swapped out’ so much as had its sticker removed! You can see the original text box where the date should be underneath the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker.
@WiltonRoots I think it’s the poster-paster whose job is on the line here!
Whether it’s the Bakerloo, the Central, or the Victoria line I don’t know. Oxford Circus is served by all three.
@browneyes I’ve done a bit of poking around, and my strong impression is that while the ‘OUT NOW’ text bubble is not part of the original poster design itself, it seems to have been stuck on physically rather than digitally (i.e. via Photoshop, etc.)
To be honest, it kinda looks a bit fake in all of them. The thing that swung me around is that the fact that it was independently verified by VGC who took some pics of their own.
To me, the above snap is the most important. You can just about make out the Metroid poster in the background, but what’s noteworthy is that the same ‘OUT NOW’ sticker has been also applied to the Mario Kart poster, cutting off Cheep Cheep’s beautiful blonde Mohawk and obscuring poor Daisy almost entirely.
It seems that the base posters are stuck up, and then afterwards they have the ‘OUT NOW’ stickers applied to them. The Metroid poster seems to have always had ‘2025’ underneath as part of the original poster design. Maybe a clueless billboard technician saw it, thought “2025? That’s NOW!” and prematurely covered it with the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker. Or maybe their boss told them to. Or someone else. I don’t know.
Anyway, long story short: I feel quite confident that the ‘OUT NOW’ stickers were applied physically, not digitally, and that there’s not foul play at work here. Just, as @ParsnipHero perfectly puts it, a gaff that wasn’t minded!
Sega knows we hate fast, spiky, annoying blue things, so I applaud them for the making the bold decision to remove Sonic from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
@Mando44646 “Gotta say, I prefer Capt Falcon, Link and Isabella”
Link I’ll give you, but Capt. Falcon has never been playable in a Mario Kart game and the duteous dog from Animal Crossing isn’t technically called ‘Isabella’.
I’m being a bit petty here, but given that you’ve misremembered the existence of the former and the name of the latter, I’d question the degree to which they left an lasting impression on you.
Also, dropping baby penguin off the edge of Cool Cool Mountain is one of the most iconic moments in video games, and racing Penguin’s mum down the slide was (I believe) the first time Mario had ever raced anyone in full 3D.
…Apart from maybe that Koopa Trooper in Bob-omb Battlefield.
Anyway, my point is that Penguin has serious pedigree.
There’s definitely more nuance going on here than “just throw it and AI and job’s a good ‘un”.
What’s certain is that the current state of large-scale game development is unsustainable.
“The only thing I can think of that could possibly break the deadlock is improved efficiency brought about by generative AI” …seems to be Sakurai’s general sentiment.
What’s not stated is exactly how AI is to be used. I don’t think Sakurai is advocating for the wholesale axing of game developers in favour of serving up fully AI-generated slop to unwitting consumers. But it’s undeniably powerful tech with the potential to both speed up busywork — resulting in a smoother production pipeline — or to create a passable but soulless pastiche of the product it’s purporting to be.
We also don’t know exactly what AI will look like in the coming years. Perhaps it will choke on its own output, growing dumber and dumber as more and more of its training data comes from AI-generated sources — like a form of technological inbreeding. Perhaps we’ll see the opposite feedback loop, where the technology can autonomously self-improve without external input, leading to exponential increases in power and unimaginable consequences.
The only thing certain about the future is that it’s anything but.
Not everything has to be a crossover. Not everything has to be part of an expanded cinematic universe. Not everything has to be the Smash Bros of [insert genre].
The more IPs you stuff in a game, the more the discourse around the game gravitates to “Why isn’t X character from Y series in the game?” That’s basically 90% of the discussion surrounding Smash Bros, and it’s quite tiresome.
The Mario universe alone already covers plenty tangential IPs that can be considered standalone franchises with their own cast of colourful characters (Donkey Kong, WarioWare/Land, Luigi’s Mansion, Yoshi’s Island/Wooly World, etc.).
As much as I love Splatoon, I always felt the Inklings were more of an advert for Nintendo’s new IP than cohesive additions to the franchise. Just like the Mercedes cars, which simply were an advertisement.
If I want to play as a Splatoon character I’ll play Splatoon. If I want to play as a cow, I’ll play Mario Kart.
As far as I know, there are only three bovine-based Pokémon in the entire Pokédex: Tauros, Miltank and Bouffalant. That’s less than 0.3% of all Pokémon. This seems like a massive oversight.
I propose we either:
A) Replace them all with cows.
Or
B) Introduce Moo-ga Evolution which allows Pokémon to temporarily become cows. (This is the less drastic option.)
Stranger things have happened. We gave them the evolutionary equivalent of pimped-out rims and spoilers with Mega Evolution. We turned them into skyscrapers and towering wedding cakes with Dynamax and Gigantamax. We transformed them into sparkly jewel things with Terastalisation. What harm could an extra udder do?
Pikachu? Pikamoo.
Mewtwo? Mootwo.
Milotic? Milkotic.
Delibird? Dairybird.
Jirachi? Jiracheese.
Butterfree? As in free of butter? Scratch that — let’s make Butterfree the most beautifully butterful, butterlicious butterfly there’s ever been. All butter all day all night — all right!
People say that the Pokémon franchise is already milked to death but I beg to differ. This cash cow has got plenty more milk left in the tank.
@Solid_Python It does now seem to have been corrected to ‘Duo’!
EDIT: Although as @Markiemania95 has pointed out, there is now a small grammatical error in the intro, which is admittedly preferable to the previous veracity error.
More seriously, it should be noted that at present, you can’t just walk into a store and buy a Switch 2 — even if they’re technically ‘in stock’.
Each major retailer seems to have its own way of doing things (see here for a store by store rundown) but as far as I’m aware there are lottery style conditions pretty much across the board.
To meet the Online Nintendo Store conditions you need to have an NSO account (being part of a family plan doesn’t count unless you’re the person paying for it), have your region set to Japan, and have put in a certain number of hours of gameplay logged. And that’s just to get the chance to buy the system.
Amazon seems to be ‘selling’ them at scalper’s prices (roughly 20,000 yen markup), but apart from that it seems next to impossible to pick one up ‘on a whim’.
I feel a bit sorry for the Americans wondering who the hell Neil Buchanan and ‘Blue Peter’ are, but that shred of empathy is eclipsed by gratitude towards PJ for keeping the spirit of the noughties Nintendo mags alive.
I don’t know why I’m quite so touched by it, but… despite its unapologetically dated references it feels like such a breath of fresh air.
There’s so much ‘content’ out of there that’s designed to be either insipidly accessible or aggressively contrarian to farm clicks, and… reading a piece like this that just does it’s own thing feels somehow quietly radical. Especially as AI homogenises everything further into a big, silty pit of bleurgh.
@Joekun Aaaah, sorry for the misunderstanding. Sony’s naming conventions sew confusion again! (Though not to the same degree as the Xbox One Series XS Xtreme XXX Edition)
Yeah, the original PlayStation price seems to have plummeted over the years. Sony seemed to keep releasing new models and dropping the price with (almost) every update. It’s quite interesting to watch. I’ve stolen these numbers from the Japanese Wikipedia page.
PlayStation
1994年12月3日。39,800円
1995年7月21日。29,800円
1996年3月28日。24,800円
1996年6月22日。19,800円
1997年11月13日。18,000円
1998年12月1日。15,000円 PsOne
2000年7月7日。15,000円
2001年9月12日。9,980円
It’s pretty crazy that the price halved in less than two years. I know Nintendo offered an Ambassador’s Program to early adopters when it cut the price of the 3DS, though I’m not aware of Sony doing anything similar back in the day (to be fair, I’m not aware of a whole lot from that time period).
These days it seems more realistic to expect a price increase than a drastic cut!
@Joekun Are you sure those numbers are correct? From what I can see, the PS one originally launched at with an RRP of ¥15,000 which eventually dropped to ¥9,980 in 2001.
Compare that to the Switch 2, which costs ¥49,980 for the Japanese language and ¥69,980 for the multi-language version on the official store.
Of course, none of that accounts for inflation, making the numbers basically meaningless, but your ‘¥10,000 more’ figure seemed quite specific so I wondered what it was based on.
@SirLink In Japan, the standard Switch 2 almost exactly the same markup over the Switch 1 as in the US. The weak yen means that almost everything in Japan is cheaper for someone visiting from the US, but for the domestic market — most of whom are paid in yen — it’s still a reasonable investment.
The vanilla ‘base model’ Switches cost 449.99USD and 49,980JPN in their respective regions.
If the figures above are accurate, a Switch 2 purchase would constitute about 0.71% of the average US yearly salary and 1.1% of the average yearly Japanese salary (assuming each console was bought domestically).
Also, we’re not technically comparing like with like, as the ‘default’ Japanese Switch is (as you’ve noted) basically region and language locked. The ‘multi-language’ version (equivalent to the version sold in the US and other countries) is available on the Nintendo Store for 69,980JPN, which would make it around 1.52% of the average yearly Japanese salary.
So while the Japanese system objectively costs ‘less money’ than its American counterpart after factoring in exchange rates, it’s difficult to argue that it’s an easier financial purchase for the average Japanese consumer.
Also worth nothing that you can’t currently buy the system without first entering a lottery, even at retail stores!
@The_Nintend_Pedant May I direct your attention to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, which puts punching, clapping, slapping and bodacious bongo-bashing at the very core of its gameplay. It’s possibly the most proudly pugilistic platformer Nintendo has ever published.
DK’s Smash Bros. moveset since the 64 version has also been decidedly fist-focused. He is by far the smashiest of the OG smash bros.
DK:JB was developed by the team that went on to make Galaxy (which used a lot of JB’s ideas), and later Odyssey. I’m sure there’s been a fair bit of staff turnover since then, but if Bananza is developed by the Odyssey team (which seems almost certain at this point) then it shouldn’t be too surprising that Bananza inherits some of Jungle Beat’s pugilistic DNA.
I want to see someone speedrun a transfer from Pokémon Colosseum to Pokémon ScarVi.
Speaking of which, I wonder if it’ll be possible to get Pokemon of the NSO version of Colosseum when it launches. I would hope so, given the impressive permeability of previous generations.
@GravyThief GameBoy → GBA is the only non-permeable hardware barrier in the entire series (I think!).
Gen 1 and 2 games are available on the 3DS Virtual Console however, which means that it’s possible to carry Pokémon forward from (a version of) every mainline series game.
You have three different avenues to bring Pokemon over from Kanto: either from RBGY (3DS), FRLG (GBA) or Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee (Switch).
I suppose GSC and FRLG also contain their own versions of Kanto, too!
See this impressively confusing graph for details.
For genuinely abusive trolls who can’t abide by the Community Rules, there’s the Report button. For those whose greatest crime is being ‘consistently annoying’, there’s the Ignore button.
If you try to ‘fix’ annoying people with abuse, you end up in the former category. Better just to use the second option and not subject yourself to their tedious, repetitive soapbox.
Anyway, still waiting for a chance to pick up my Switch 2. Haven’t even been eligible to enter the lottery because my NSO account is registered to the wrong region!
@BrokenCiv Personally, I’d take the removal of a few purely aesthetic objects in the background — specifically limited to rank modes — over the player base being split, thus causing Switch 1 lobbies to get drier and drier as more and more players migrate over to the Switch 2.
Outside of peak hours I already find myself waiting longer between matches than ideal in X battles.
Comments 2,900
Re: Random: It's Civil War As One Pokémon Trading Card Store Robs Another
When the Otaku become the Yakuza you get … Otakuza.
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Director Acknowledges Performance Drops: "We Prioritized Fun And Playability"
I haven’t played the game yet so I don’t know how frequent or severe the performance drops are, or how much they’ll impact my enjoyment of the game as a result.
Nevertheless, I have a very strongly held opinion on the matter and anyone who thinks differently is a despicable ignoramus who should feel absolutely disgusted with themselves
I don’t know how you people sleep at night.
Re: DK Bananza Devs "Needed To Know More About Donkey Kong," So They Went To Miyamoto
Asking Miyamoto & Co. for advice is of course sensible, but the only way to truly understand DK is to be putting away 100-200 bananas per day.
Re: Random: Yes, Pope Leo Really Did Sign A Popplio Pokémon Card
Please send funds directly to the pope’s Papal account.
Re: Miyamoto Views Games As 'Products', Not 'Works Of Art', Says Ex-Nintendo Dev
This isn’t Miyamoto drawing his line in the sand on the tiresome “can games be art?” debate.
(…Which is just as well, as there is no greater mark of tedious bore than someone who tries to convince you of what “is and isn’t art”.)
This is just one person in the games industry commenting on another’s approach to their work.
Games are incredibly open-ended (multi)media, which invite a range of perfectly valid design philosophies and approaches.
The notion that Miyamoto views his games as ‘commercial goods’ above ‘pure artworks’ (whatever that means) is itself open to interpretation.
One interpretation would be that games are mere money-making machines designed to extract funds from consumers by any means possible.
Another interpretation would be that as the product ultimately ends up in players’ hands, their needs should be kept in mind at all times. Yes, games (and indeed everything sold by businesses) are designed to make profit, but satisfying players with well-made products is the best way ensure brand loyalty and the continued success as a company. I think this is what Imamura is getting at here.
‘Product’ vs ‘artwork’ is not the same dichotomy as ‘short-termism’ vs ‘long-termism’ or ‘anti-consumer’ vs ‘pro-consumer’.
The following tables were designed by different people with different approaches and different audiences in mind.
The world is big enough for all three tables, all three designers, and all three approaches.
Re: "It's Heartbreaking" - The Pokémon Company Tech VP Joins Industry In Criticising Microsoft Layoffs
@SurprisedRobinChu I’ve managed to avoid this ‘upgrade’ because my Surface Laptop decided to die the day before I had an online interview.
I took it to the shop where I bought it, and they said, “the only way to get this fixed is to send it directly to Microsoft,” then they checked and said “Microsoft is no longer servicing this model.” I bought it about 5 years ago. It’s younger than my Switch. Nintendo only recently stopped taking repair requests for the 3DS.
The next day I picked up a second hand M2 MacBook Air and am hoping it’ll keep me out of Microsoft’s jaws for a while yet.
Re: Perfect Dark Voice Actor Calls On Fans To Help Series "Survive"
Microsoft doesn’t what Nintendid.
Re: Wait, 'Busted' Member Is The Singer Of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' Opening?
@TheSaneInsanity
My apologies to Mr. Sponge. I will correct it.
Re: Wait, 'Busted' Member Is The Singer Of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds' Opening?
Mario Kart World gave us one of the most impeccable jazz-fusion infused soundtracks to ever grace a video game.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds gave us “here we go, time to blow (?), here we go, fast like woah”.
…And SpongeBob in a kart.
EDIT: Sponge has an E
Re: Furukawa's Defence Of Game-Key Cards Ain't All That Convincing
I don’t consider myself to be ‘boycotting’ (i.e. performatively ‘doing nothing’) Card Keys but as a traditionally physical gamer, I find them sufficiently off-putting that the only way I could imagine buying a Card Key game is if:
A) The digital version gets a DEEP (80%+) discount on the eShop.
B) The Card Key is sold for a similarly big discount secondhand.
In both cases I can think of it as the price of a ‘rental’ and not worry about the fact I might uninstall it to save space later. I don’t need to feel I ‘own’ it if I got it for a steal.
I’ve bought plenty on digital eShop-only games before, but never a full-fat AAA title at full price. The cost (not just financially but also in terms memory space) has always felt quite prohibitive.
But that’s just me.
Re: Dave The Diver Director Says "There's Nothing Indie" About Hit Game
They should just rename it the ‘Games With Visible Pixels’ category and award it to Super Mario Bros 2 every year.
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Developer Has Been Revealed
@Sylamp I will be that guy if you like.
I thought this game was being developed by Ubisoft Montreal. The revelation that is being developed by Production Group No. 8 of Nintendo Entertainment Planning & Development Division comes as an immense shock.
Re: Nintendo Reportedly Pulled Amazon US' Switch 2 Sales After Beef Over "Unauthorised" Sellers
I deny these claims also.
Re: Street Fighter 6 Reveals Special Collab Outfit Available For "One Year Only"
@Lady_rosalina I think calling an outfit based on “South Korean K-Pop group Aespa” K-Pop is A-OK-Pop.
I mean, I think it’s a bit tacky — much like the Mercedes vehicles in Mario Kart 8 — but I can’t find fault with the K-Pop label.
Re: The Plucky Squire's Next Update Ups The Challenge With New Game Modes & Enemies
I got soft locked out of a biscuit tin which took the shine off for me. As far as I’m aware the only option was to start the game from scratch (which would be irritating as I was several chapters in). It’s been a few months since I last checked though, so maybe it’s been patched.
Re: Look, Maybe We Should Stop Asking For A Sonic Adventure Remaster
Just bring it to NSO instead.
I think most people agree the game is pretty janky and ‘of its time’, which leaves two options:
1) Eliminate the jank: remake it from the ground up to ‘modern standards’.
Iizuka addresses this option here. It’d take a lot of work. May as well make a new game given the effort required.
2) Leave it largely unchanged, as “the jank is part of the game’s charm”.
I’m sure there are quite a few people in this camp, myself included. In which case, just bring it to NSO, and then we can get everything that is “part of the game’s charm” in its original, relatively unadulterated form.
I’m not sure how SEGA would make money off this, but I assume they would somehow — they’ve already put dozens of games on NSO (including a dedicated Mega Drive app) so there must be some benefit for the company.
Anyway, yeah, just stick on NSO and call it a day. Then people will finally be quiet. We’ve already had ‘impossible’ games like Goldeneye and Banjo-Kazooie on the service. Now that GameCube games are available, SA2B doesn’t seem too outlandish a request.
Certainly more reasonable than a full-blown remake.
Re: Video: Which Original Switch Accessories Won't Work On Switch 2?
Zion’s really done his investigative homework with this one. Fantastic video. Really informative and well made.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@BoomingEchoes In @Ogbert’s defence, I don’t think he’s trying to ‘wage a whole battle’ with you; just have a discussion about a topic while giving some relevant examples.
You don’t have to prove anything, but given that you made the original claim, it would be nice if you could prove something — or could at least be bothered to make the effort.
As an ignorant outsider, I could be persuaded either way, but I’m heavily leaning towards the party that has actually tried to substantiate their claims.
You could well be right, but so far you’ve failed to be very convincing.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
This guy’s income sounds very unstable if it can change by 5 mil in just one year.
He should consider supplementing his income by getting a Patreon account.
Or an OnlyFans.
Re: Japanese Charts: Mario Kart World Speeds Past 1 Million Physical Sales
I think it’s less availability issues with the game and more availability issues with the console.
As @GetontheStiix has pointed out, the MK8 already has an incredibly high attach rate (a minimum of 1,044,044/1,241,162 ≈ 84% which I assume includes bundles though I’m not sure about separate digital downloads). And like @WiltonRoots says, you’re unlikely to purchase a game for a console you don’t own.
In general it hasn’t been possible to pick up a Switch 2 in Japan without going through some sort of lottery system, either at a retailer or through Nintendo’s online store.
Currently, the online store is ‘between lotteries’ which means that it’s impossible to even register that you’d like to have the chance to purchase a console, even if you meet all the conditions (over a year’s NSO membership as primary account holder + 50 hours of gameplay logged + resident of Japan).
I can’t get my hands on a console (I'm part of a family plan), and I’m sure there are plenty of people in the same boat. And almost none of us have Mario Kart.
Re: Nintendo Fixes Its Metroid Prime 4 Blunder, And It's No Longer "Out Now"
@TheBigK If my attempts at sleuthing are correct, the current ‘2025’ poster is the original and the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker was just pasted erroneously on top (which is why it looks a bit weird, doesn’t fully cover the ‘2025’ text box, and also partially covers Samus’ hand).
To fix it, all they (presumably) had to do was peel off the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker while praying to not damage the poster underneath. And it seems like they did a very good job!
@Olliemar28 I don’t think the poster has been ‘swapped out’ so much as had its sticker removed! You can see the original text box where the date should be underneath the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker.
@WiltonRoots I think it’s the poster-paster whose job is on the line here!
Whether it’s the Bakerloo, the Central, or the Victoria line I don’t know. Oxford Circus is served by all three.
Re: Nintendo Fixes Its Metroid Prime 4 Blunder, And It's No Longer "Out Now"
@browneyes I’ve done a bit of poking around, and my strong impression is that while the ‘OUT NOW’ text bubble is not part of the original poster design itself, it seems to have been stuck on physically rather than digitally (i.e. via Photoshop, etc.)
If it were just a single Reddit post I’d be suspicious (and indeed was), even though it’s taken from multiple angles.
To be honest, it kinda looks a bit fake in all of them. The thing that swung me around is that the fact that it was independently verified by VGC who took some pics of their own.
To me, the above snap is the most important. You can just about make out the Metroid poster in the background, but what’s noteworthy is that the same ‘OUT NOW’ sticker has been also applied to the Mario Kart poster, cutting off Cheep Cheep’s beautiful blonde Mohawk and obscuring poor Daisy almost entirely.
It seems that the base posters are stuck up, and then afterwards they have the ‘OUT NOW’ stickers applied to them. The Metroid poster seems to have always had ‘2025’ underneath as part of the original poster design. Maybe a clueless billboard technician saw it, thought “2025? That’s NOW!” and prematurely covered it with the ‘OUT NOW’ sticker. Or maybe their boss told them to. Or someone else. I don’t know.
Anyway, long story short: I feel quite confident that the ‘OUT NOW’ stickers were applied physically, not digitally, and that there’s not foul play at work here. Just, as @ParsnipHero perfectly puts it, a gaff that wasn’t minded!
Re: Sega Knows You Hate Mario Kart's Blue Shells
Sega knows we hate fast, spiky, annoying blue things, so I applaud them for the making the bold decision to remove Sonic from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
Re: UK Charts: There's No Stopping Mario Kart World And Switch 2
Mario Kart 8 is like an overexcitable puppy eternally clambering up the Top 10 and slathering it in puppy slobber.
“Down boy!”
You yell. And maybe he stays down for a week or so. But the next week he’s back up there slobbering all over the competition.
Re: Where Are Mario Kart World's Non-Mario Racers? Producer Kosuke Yabuki Has The Answer
@Mando44646 “Gotta say, I prefer Capt Falcon, Link and Isabella”
Link I’ll give you, but Capt. Falcon has never been playable in a Mario Kart game and the duteous dog from Animal Crossing isn’t technically called ‘Isabella’.
I’m being a bit petty here, but given that you’ve misremembered the existence of the former and the name of the latter, I’d question the degree to which they left an lasting impression on you.
Also, dropping baby penguin off the edge of Cool Cool Mountain is one of the most iconic moments in video games, and racing Penguin’s mum down the slide was (I believe) the first time Mario had ever raced anyone in full 3D.
…Apart from maybe that Koopa Trooper in Bob-omb Battlefield.
Anyway, my point is that Penguin has serious pedigree.
Re: Smash Bros. Director Sakurai Laments 'Unsustainable' AAA Game Dev, Discusses AI And Uncertainty
There’s definitely more nuance going on here than “just throw it and AI and job’s a good ‘un”.
What’s certain is that the current state of large-scale game development is unsustainable.
“The only thing I can think of that could possibly break the deadlock is improved efficiency brought about by generative AI” …seems to be Sakurai’s general sentiment.
What’s not stated is exactly how AI is to be used. I don’t think Sakurai is advocating for the wholesale axing of game developers in favour of serving up fully AI-generated slop to unwitting consumers. But it’s undeniably powerful tech with the potential to both speed up busywork — resulting in a smoother production pipeline — or to create a passable but soulless pastiche of the product it’s purporting to be.
We also don’t know exactly what AI will look like in the coming years. Perhaps it will choke on its own output, growing dumber and dumber as more and more of its training data comes from AI-generated sources — like a form of technological inbreeding. Perhaps we’ll see the opposite feedback loop, where the technology can autonomously self-improve without external input, leading to exponential increases in power and unimaginable consequences.
The only thing certain about the future is that it’s anything but.
Re: Where Are Mario Kart World's Non-Mario Racers? Producer Kosuke Yabuki Has The Answer
Not everything has to be a crossover. Not everything has to be part of an expanded cinematic universe. Not everything has to be the Smash Bros of [insert genre].
The more IPs you stuff in a game, the more the discourse around the game gravitates to “Why isn’t X character from Y series in the game?” That’s basically 90% of the discussion surrounding Smash Bros, and it’s quite tiresome.
The Mario universe alone already covers plenty tangential IPs that can be considered standalone franchises with their own cast of colourful characters (Donkey Kong, WarioWare/Land, Luigi’s Mansion, Yoshi’s Island/Wooly World, etc.).
As much as I love Splatoon, I always felt the Inklings were more of an advert for Nintendo’s new IP than cohesive additions to the franchise. Just like the Mercedes cars, which simply were an advertisement.
If I want to play as a Splatoon character I’ll play Splatoon. If I want to play as a cow, I’ll play Mario Kart.
Re: Back Page: Every Game Should Have A Cow
@SuntannedDuck2 “I don't take it seriously, sorry.”
Don’t worry, you don’t need to apologise for not taking this article entirely seriously.
Re: Back Page: Every Game Should Have A Cow
As far as I know, there are only three bovine-based Pokémon in the entire Pokédex: Tauros, Miltank and Bouffalant. That’s less than 0.3% of all Pokémon. This seems like a massive oversight.
I propose we either:
A) Replace them all with cows.
Or
B) Introduce Moo-ga Evolution which allows Pokémon to temporarily become cows. (This is the less drastic option.)
Stranger things have happened. We gave them the evolutionary equivalent of pimped-out rims and spoilers with Mega Evolution. We turned them into skyscrapers and towering wedding cakes with Dynamax and Gigantamax. We transformed them into sparkly jewel things with Terastalisation. What harm could an extra udder do?
Pikachu? Pikamoo.
Mewtwo? Mootwo.
Milotic? Milkotic.
Delibird? Dairybird.
Jirachi? Jiracheese.
Butterfree? As in free of butter? Scratch that — let’s make Butterfree the most beautifully butterful, butterlicious butterfly there’s ever been. All butter all day all night — all right!
People say that the Pokémon franchise is already milked to death but I beg to differ. This cash cow has got plenty more milk left in the tank.
Re: Former Nintendo Duo Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong
@Solid_Python It does now seem to have been corrected to ‘Duo’!
EDIT: Although as @Markiemania95 has pointed out, there is now a small grammatical error in the intro, which is admittedly preferable to the previous veracity error.
Re: Former Nintendo Execs Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong
@Dang_69 Kit himself has denied the ‘executive’ claim.
https://youtube.com/shorts/wrCQ0qOUp9c?feature=shared
But yeah, I think we’re all in agreement that the title is misleading!
It’s certainly attracted a lot of clicks, but in this case I’m not sure that all the publicity is good publicity.
Re: Former Nintendo Execs Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong
@Damo It might be worth correcting the headline.
That’s an executive decision.
Well, it’s not, but…
https://youtube.com/shorts/wrCQ0qOUp9c?feature=shared
Re: Former Nintendo Execs Fear We Might Be Waiting A While For A 3D Mario On Switch 2, Thanks To Donkey Kong
‘Ex-Nintendo’ and ‘Nintendo Execs’ are not the same thing.
Re: Switch 2 Has Already Overtaken The Combined Lifetime Sales Of The Entire Xbox Series Family And PS5 Pro In Japan
More seriously, it should be noted that at present, you can’t just walk into a store and buy a Switch 2 — even if they’re technically ‘in stock’.
Each major retailer seems to have its own way of doing things (see here for a store by store rundown) but as far as I’m aware there are lottery style conditions pretty much across the board.
To meet the Online Nintendo Store conditions you need to have an NSO account (being part of a family plan doesn’t count unless you’re the person paying for it), have your region set to Japan, and have put in a certain number of hours of gameplay logged. And that’s just to get the chance to buy the system.
Amazon seems to be ‘selling’ them at scalper’s prices (roughly 20,000 yen markup), but apart from that it seems next to impossible to pick one up ‘on a whim’.
Re: Switch 2 Has Already Overtaken The Combined Lifetime Sales Of The Entire Xbox Series Family And PS5 Pro In Japan
Just you wait. Xbox is gonna get a second wind. I can feel it.
My uncle is Fill Dispenser and he told me he’s planning something big.
Re: Random: Don't Like Switch 2's Physical Game Cases? Try Some Cool Cassette-Styled Ones Instead
I feel a bit sorry for the Americans wondering who the hell Neil Buchanan and ‘Blue Peter’ are, but that shred of empathy is eclipsed by gratitude towards PJ for keeping the spirit of the noughties Nintendo mags alive.
I don’t know why I’m quite so touched by it, but… despite its unapologetically dated references it feels like such a breath of fresh air.
There’s so much ‘content’ out of there that’s designed to be either insipidly accessible or aggressively contrarian to farm clicks, and… reading a piece like this that just does it’s own thing feels somehow quietly radical. Especially as AI homogenises everything further into a big, silty pit of bleurgh.
Rock on, PJ. Neil Buchanan would be proud.
Re: Random: Switch 2 Ad Claims Metroid Prime 4 Is "Out Now"
@Orpheus79V 6th November? How preposterous! The real release date could not be further away!
I don’t see how anyone could read this as ‘OUT NOW’ when clearly what is written is ‘OUT NOVV’.
‘NOVV’ of course meaning ‘NOV5’, or ‘the 5th of November’ as those outside of the Americas might say.
This is certainly the most plausible theory by far and I won’t hear anything to the contrary.
please don’t take this post seriously!
Re: Japanese Charts: Switch 2 Won't Slow Down, Surpasses 1 Million Consoles Sold
@Joekun Aaaah, sorry for the misunderstanding. Sony’s naming conventions sew confusion again! (Though not to the same degree as the Xbox One Series XS Xtreme XXX Edition)
Yeah, the original PlayStation price seems to have plummeted over the years. Sony seemed to keep releasing new models and dropping the price with (almost) every update. It’s quite interesting to watch. I’ve stolen these numbers from the Japanese Wikipedia page.
PlayStation
1994年12月3日。39,800円
1995年7月21日。29,800円
1996年3月28日。24,800円
1996年6月22日。19,800円
1997年11月13日。18,000円
1998年12月1日。15,000円
PsOne
2000年7月7日。15,000円
2001年9月12日。9,980円
It’s pretty crazy that the price halved in less than two years. I know Nintendo offered an Ambassador’s Program to early adopters when it cut the price of the 3DS, though I’m not aware of Sony doing anything similar back in the day (to be fair, I’m not aware of a whole lot from that time period).
These days it seems more realistic to expect a price increase than a drastic cut!
Re: Japanese Charts: Switch 2 Won't Slow Down, Surpasses 1 Million Consoles Sold
@Joekun Are you sure those numbers are correct? From what I can see, the PS one originally launched at with an RRP of ¥15,000 which eventually dropped to ¥9,980 in 2001.
Compare that to the Switch 2, which costs ¥49,980 for the Japanese language and ¥69,980 for the multi-language version on the official store.
Of course, none of that accounts for inflation, making the numbers basically meaningless, but your ‘¥10,000 more’ figure seemed quite specific so I wondered what it was based on.
Re: Japanese Charts: Switch 2 Won't Slow Down, Surpasses 1 Million Consoles Sold
@SirLink In Japan, the standard Switch 2 almost exactly the same markup over the Switch 1 as in the US. The weak yen means that almost everything in Japan is cheaper for someone visiting from the US, but for the domestic market — most of whom are paid in yen — it’s still a reasonable investment.
According to some cursory research, the mean annual US salary is 63,795 dollars compared to about 4.6 million yen for Japan (English language sites seem to be all over the place with their figures for Japanese salaries, but I’m hoping MUFG’s data is reliable, even if it’s from 2023).
The vanilla ‘base model’ Switches cost 449.99USD and 49,980JPN in their respective regions.
If the figures above are accurate, a Switch 2 purchase would constitute about 0.71% of the average US yearly salary and 1.1% of the average yearly Japanese salary (assuming each console was bought domestically).
Also, we’re not technically comparing like with like, as the ‘default’ Japanese Switch is (as you’ve noted) basically region and language locked. The ‘multi-language’ version (equivalent to the version sold in the US and other countries) is available on the Nintendo Store for 69,980JPN, which would make it around 1.52% of the average yearly Japanese salary.
So while the Japanese system objectively costs ‘less money’ than its American counterpart after factoring in exchange rates, it’s difficult to argue that it’s an easier financial purchase for the average Japanese consumer.
Also worth nothing that you can’t currently buy the system without first entering a lottery, even at retail stores!
Re: Random: Hideo Kojima Remembers That Time He Used Unwanted Teddy Bear Tech To Make A GBA Vampire Game
The Amazon page for the bears (basically a light-powered ursine Tamagotchi) is still active in case anyone wants to wait around for a restock.
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Channels Super Mario 64 Energy With Its 'DK Artist' Mode
Impressionism, Cubism, Constructivism, Expressionism, Surrealism…
Humanity has moved through various artistic eras, each giving us a window into the period’s zeitgeist.
Nothing, however, could prepare us for the new artistic epoch we are about to enter.
Ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourself for the next chapter in the history of art:
Bananzism
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza Switch 2 Box Art Shows Pauline In All Her Glory
@The_Nintend_Pedant May I direct your attention to Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, which puts punching, clapping, slapping and bodacious bongo-bashing at the very core of its gameplay. It’s possibly the most proudly pugilistic platformer Nintendo has ever published.
DK’s Smash Bros. moveset since the 64 version has also been decidedly fist-focused. He is by far the smashiest of the OG smash bros.
DK:JB was developed by the team that went on to make Galaxy (which used a lot of JB’s ideas), and later Odyssey. I’m sure there’s been a fair bit of staff turnover since then, but if Bananza is developed by the Odyssey team (which seems almost certain at this point) then it shouldn’t be too surprising that Bananza inherits some of Jungle Beat’s pugilistic DNA.
Re: More Than 2,800 Switch 2 Consoles Have Been Stolen From A Semi-Truck
Footage of the thief in action:
I always knew there was something shifty about that Birdo character…
Re: Random: Do You Remember This Utterly Insane Marketing Stunt For Super Mario Sunshine?
I know this is from 2002 but shaven-headed Luigi shamelessly humping an enormous bowl of spaghetti somehow has a very 2025 energy to it.
The bowl of spaghetti is planet Earth, and Luigi is… well, I can think of a good many candidates. One of them has a particularly musky scent.
Re: Pokémon Fan Loses "20 Years Worth Of Data" After Performing Switch 2 Transfer
@FatWormBlowsASparky You have my sincere respect.
I want to see someone speedrun a transfer from Pokémon Colosseum to Pokémon ScarVi.
Speaking of which, I wonder if it’ll be possible to get Pokemon of the NSO version of Colosseum when it launches. I would hope so, given the impressive permeability of previous generations.
Re: Pokémon Fan Loses "20 Years Worth Of Data" After Performing Switch 2 Transfer
@GravyThief GameBoy → GBA is the only non-permeable hardware barrier in the entire series (I think!).
Gen 1 and 2 games are available on the 3DS Virtual Console however, which means that it’s possible to carry Pokémon forward from (a version of) every mainline series game.
You have three different avenues to bring Pokemon over from Kanto: either from RBGY (3DS), FRLG (GBA) or Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee (Switch).
I suppose GSC and FRLG also contain their own versions of Kanto, too!
See this impressively confusing graph for details.
Re: Switch 2 Sets "All-Time" Launch Record For Video Game Hardware In The US
News just in:
Sony has discovered an extra million launch-week sales for the PS4 that it previously forgot to mention.
Re: Japanese Charts: Switch 2 Crushes PS2 To Become Fastest-Selling Console Ever
For genuinely abusive trolls who can’t abide by the Community Rules, there’s the Report button. For those whose greatest crime is being ‘consistently annoying’, there’s the Ignore button.
If you try to ‘fix’ annoying people with abuse, you end up in the former category. Better just to use the second option and not subject yourself to their tedious, repetitive soapbox.
Anyway, still waiting for a chance to pick up my Switch 2. Haven’t even been eligible to enter the lottery because my NSO account is registered to the wrong region!
Re: PSA: Splatoon 3 On Switch Has Made Some Cuts To Keep Pace With Switch 2
@BrokenCiv Personally, I’d take the removal of a few purely aesthetic objects in the background — specifically limited to rank modes — over the player base being split, thus causing Switch 1 lobbies to get drier and drier as more and more players migrate over to the Switch 2.
Outside of peak hours I already find myself waiting longer between matches than ideal in X battles.