Comments 1,578

Re: Poll: So, Should Pokémon Red And Blue Return For The 30th Anniversary?

Mgalens

@Porky
yeah the issue lead to a couple of the trails games (zero and azure) getting 18+ ratings in europe (unsure if any later ones had a casino but Cold steel 4 i think had one and was a lower age rating) Does make me curious since i remember seeing issues as early as pokemon platinum with the game corner minigames being outright removed though forgot if the japanese version of HG/SS had gambling minigames or if the voltorb flip was worldwide.

Re: Poll: So, Should Pokémon Red And Blue Return For The 30th Anniversary?

Mgalens

@FrenchVaniIIuxe
Do wish it did the PS+ thing where it has both subscription and a buy/keep option but i imagine with how NSO works with it being its own app would make it more difficult.

Console archives seems like it doesnt rule out games that have been on NSO at least, even if it likely wont have most first party stuff (some could make it if its like arcade archives which had some Nintendo games)

For Pokemon i am curious to see how they handle it.

Re: Hamster's 'Console Archives' Is The Closest We'll Get To Virtual Console In 2026

Mgalens

@Lizuka
The whole 'treating multiple takes as though from the same person' issue feels extremely common in online discussion, though it does feel like one of those things which isnt helped by how a lot of sites work, mainly social media where algorithms affect what is seen or places like reddit where upvotes/downvotes affect visibility of discussion and a bunch of subreddits almost feel designed for fostering some very specific opinions.

To put it in a somewhat less rambling way it can feel like the internet is almost designed to mess with discussion.

one thing though is in this case i can definitely see why some would change their opinion over time, during the earlier VC days not only was there no account system from nintendo but i can see how things like Netflix would have seemed more appealing since it felt like a lot of the issues inherent to services had not shown up so much such as how delisting affects accessibility more.

again sorry for the somewhat rambling nature of the post i am not good at editing for brevity.

Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - Super Bomberman 2 (SNES)

Mgalens

This is a tough one for me, i like the composition of the JP one with the multiple bombermen and showing off the boss characters better, though i like the colours on the EU/US one more, something about it has that warm feel which a bunch of box-arts back then had.

Re: Square Enix Is Making Changes To Its New HD-2D Game Based On Demo Feedback

Mgalens

@Orpheus79V
yeah was just going to mention the DQ1-3 remakes.

I imagine calling it "HD-2D" was a holdover from when DQ3 was first announced since that initial trailer did look closer to how the older HD2d games looked where the textures were aiming to mimic the look of 2d tilesets from older rpgs wheres the final version (and the 1+2 remake) feel more like a modern version of that 2d-sprites-on-3d-backdrops look which was pretty popular on psone/saturn with games like grandia, wild-arms 2, Xenogears, breath of fire 3/4, Dragon quest VII, Persona 2, Arc the lad 3 etc (it also was pretty popular on DS and psp)

Re: Konami And M2 Announce New Goemon Switch Collection, Here Are The 13 Retro Titles Included

Mgalens

Yeah this is one i would buy 100% if it were available in english though i imagine there would be a good amount of text to translate, it being M2 also just makes it more appealing given they tend to do great jobs with these.

on the subject of goemon im curious to see if any konami stuff shows up on the "console archives" since i would pay good money for the N64 goemon games on that.

Re: Hamster's 'Console Archives' Is The Closest We'll Get To Virtual Console In 2026

Mgalens

@LinktotheFuture
it happens, you just gotta shake off the rust!

Nice to hear your impressions of it are good so far with things such as lag though Arcade archives seemed very well recieved so it does feel like the games are in good hands if they can work that same magic here.

am definitely interested in the possibilities especially since we have a playstation game in the launch lineup.

Re: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Gets A Release Date For Switch 2

Mgalens

@Smerd
i feel like Rebirths length can be much more variable than remake, like @Kiz3000 mentioned rebirth has a LOT more side content so if you looked at both of them in terms of a playthrough doing everything rebirth would be multiple times as long, definitely recommend anyone who is prone to burn-out with games to pace themselves (also sidequests and open world progress carry over when replaying)

One cool thing it has though is the "adaptive" difficulty option which scales enemies to your level which can be good if you are someone who loves doing side content but doesn't want to feel too OP, while at the same time not making leveling up feel pointless since you are still getting stronger in other ways such as materia levels and better gear.

but yeah, theres definitely a huge amount of content in rebirth so its gonna do good with tiding you over as you mentioned.

Re: Hamster's 'Console Archives' Is The Closest We'll Get To Virtual Console In 2026

Mgalens

@Olliemar28
That is interesting since it means that NSO wont rule out a console archives version.

Interesting seeing the different platforms on it too since it would be cool seeing what other playstation games end up making it.

Am hoping we get some RPGs making their way to the system also.

either way this has me very interested, those arcade archives were generally considered good iirc.

Re: Feature: "Reimagining The Scenario Was Necessary" - Making Old & New Fans Happy With Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined

Mgalens

@stillpondjosh
Yeah it feels like a difficult situation since there are often times when something which may be the reason why some people cant get into a game or product may be a big part of the appeal for others and depending on the game the balancing act of it all can range from difficult to nigh-impossible.

While i am enjoying my time with the game very much i can also see where you are coming from all too well (at least i think i can)

Re: Review: Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined (Switch 2) - A Fantastic Makeover & The Best-Looking DQ Ever

Mgalens

@BleakStuff
There was also visible encounters in the 3ds remake of this but that version had the issue where there were so many enemies flooding narrow halls that it made it so you were getting into far more encounters than the original psone game with its random encounters.

This remake seems to handle them better from what ive seen.
(also enjoyed the star ocean 2 remake and how that handled them too)

Re: Nintendo Responds To Dispatch Switch Censorship With Official Statement

Mgalens

The response feels like it just makes things more confusing....

on one hand you have things pointing it towards nintendo such as this comment further mentioning have their own independent platform guidelines which is corroborated by several games over the past few years either having changes specific to switch or outright refused release.

On the other hand you have things like the fact that other games with similar such content to this have released on the system fine outside of japan and that the fact that the japanese ps5 version shares censorship with this version which points in the direction of the "one version for all regions" reasoning.

either way it feels like a messy confusing situation with the nagging feeling it could be a bit of both.

Re: Nintendo Restricting Some Image Sharing Features For Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream

Mgalens

i didnt actually know about the auto or phone related thing (dont have a smart-device) since i was transfering and saving screenshots to PC then sharing them with friends on discord.

if this feature is completely removed too then it almost feels the antithesis of the whole "bringing smiles to everyone" ethos, especially since sharing experiences is a big part of gaming for some and being able to do so via the internet allows those who may not have easy/frequent contact with friends/family to share (while switch doesnt offer said feature, one thing ive enjoyed is how its easier to stream games nowadays even from consoles and it means i can watch friends play games and chat even when not directly with them)

but yeah it does feel like its what @JohnnyMind mentioned with the whole "gaming principles" act and the whole "making things inconvenient for others while not stopping the problem" is something which comes up far too often in these kinds of situations (also see the absolute clown-show which is going on regarding the internet here in the UK with the whole "safety act")

apologies for a ramble but its just a confusing/frustrating situation.

Re: PSA: Dispatch's 'Visual Censorship' Settings Can't Be Removed On Switch

Mgalens

@Warioware
The stick of truth EU censorship was one of the things which came to mind for me, it was similar only it was based on region rather than platform but still felt like the same underlying issue in that it was an odd choice considering the games themes and age rating.

though i forgot whether the south park one was a choice specifically made by ubisoft or if it was an age rating thing, i think it was the former.

Re: Reminder: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade 'Limited Early Purchase Edition' Offer Ends Next Week

Mgalens

While i very much preffer how the psone version of the original game looks (as opposed to the PC port which later versions are based on) this still definitely feels like a really good deal, plus the original is still very much its own thing so it feels like it stands alongside the Remake rather than the remake "replacing" it.

Remake as a whole is something im cool with double dipping on going by impressions of the port and am hoping that rebirth's port is as good (going by the PR talk square at least feels confident in the rebirth port)

Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake's Sequels Will Have "Exactly The Same" Gameplay As Other Consoles

Mgalens

@Kiz3000
yeah layout wise it feels closer to something like Xenoblade where its a series of large "Zones" which are visited in a linear order.

am also curious how they handle air travel, it could end up using a somewhat scaled down version of the map similar to some of the dragon quest games (only disguised better) since i think thats how the tiny bronco ocean travel was handled in rebirth.

Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake's Sequels Will Have "Exactly The Same" Gameplay As Other Consoles

Mgalens

@Ralizah
yeah thats what i was thinking.
It feels like while theres still some action based skill when it comes to dodging and guarding it also feels like learning the RPG side of it, such as character setups, elemental weaknesses, and in general chosing the right skills and making good use of your ATB charges, will end up having a much bigger impact on how well you do, wheres playing it purely like an action game will often lead to bosses taking a lot longer (and in hard mode feels absolutely vital to learn the combat)

overall yeah out of all the "action" FF games its by far my fave in terms of combat.

Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake's Sequels Will Have "Exactly The Same" Gameplay As Other Consoles

Mgalens

@IronMan30
its definitely one of those games i recommend players pace themselves with optional content if they are one to suffer burnout in these kinds of games, theres an obscene amount of optional stuff to do though fortunately like Remake nothing is technically missable due to chapter select (like newgame+ but you can choose any chapter rather than the start) and sidequest/open world stuff carries over (iirc the sidequests reset on remake on replays, could be misremembering though so dont quote me on that)

overall am glad to hear they are confident with the switch 2 port of rebirth since like remake i would gladly double dip.

Re: Digital Foundry Delivers Its Tech Review Of Final Fantasy VII Remake On Switch 2

Mgalens

@Debo626
did mention it in the review comments but from what i gather square seems pretty confident on the idea of rebirth on switch 2 saying they are aiming for something as good if not better than the remake port.

while only time will tell, it is at least reassuring that they have some confidence in the game and i imagine they would have learned from both their experiences with getting it working on steam deck and the switch 2 Remake port.

Re: Switch 2 Predicted To Follow In PlayStation And Xbox's Footsteps This Year With "Global Price Hike"

Mgalens

@sportymariosonicmixx
yeah it also feels like they draw from multiple sources for the answer regardless of whether they contradict each other or are from completely different subjects, also assorted social media comments including joke answers since it cannot understand context which lead to the infamous "put glue on pizza" "advice" though it also feels like its getting to the point where its even drawing from other ai results resulting in even more of a complete mess.

it does at the very least feel like more and more people are questioning it or there is backlash in places like the relatively recent Grok controversy which apparently was even on TV news (at least where i live, unsure about other countries)

Re: Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Switch 2) - A Big, Bold Reimagining, And A First-Class Port

Mgalens

@TheExile285
Yeah have really been hoping for native versions of those games for a while, it also feels like KH3 would be potentially viable now though honestly i would still be more than happy with just 1.5 and 2.5 since those being cloud was super confusing considering that while they were apparently somewhat rebuilt or something rather than just being straight ps2/psp ports both of them were on PS3 too

Re: Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Switch 2) - A Big, Bold Reimagining, And A First-Class Port

Mgalens

@Sonicka
also going by several sites it seems like square enix are really determined to bring a good version of rebirth on switch 2 and from the sound of it their work on the steam deck version of rebirth seemed like it gave them the confidence that rebirths switch 2 port will be "just as high quality as the first game, if not higher.”

i know that while its good to take PR quotes with a grain of salt its at least nice to hear they are determined about delivering with the port, and will likely be more familiar and confident working with the hardware i hope.

either way am cautiously optimistic about rebirth but very happy with how remake seems to have turned out.

Re: Review: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade (Switch 2) - A Big, Bold Reimagining, And A First-Class Port

Mgalens

This (and rebirth) were some of the most fun i have had with a (single player) FF in years, so am glad its a good port and am hoping for the best with the eventual rebirth port.

It feels like one of those remakes where it can exist alongside the original rather than "replace" it, which makes it (for me at least) easier to view as its own thing, just with familiar character,s settings and story beats, the gameplay also i found to be the most fun ive had with the more "action" oriented FF games due to leaning more towards the "RPG" side of "action RPG" with emphasis on the skills you use and elemental weaknesses wheres some of the other ones tended to skew more towards the "action" side.

Re: Switch 2 Predicted To Follow In PlayStation And Xbox's Footsteps This Year With "Global Price Hike"

Mgalens

@LazyDaisy
yeah i feel like while comments responding to and discussing the criticism can be good for said discussion i feel that when people start accusing others of things like "whining" or being "entitled" it just ends up feeling more dismissive than constructive, really anything that feels more like its going directly for others and their feelings rather than the point they are trying to make, its similar to when you get the whole "shill" and "bootlicker" comments on the other side of the discussion.

Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Gets A Free Switch 2 Update And Adds Dixie Kong

Mgalens

@BrazillianCara
Those would be neat, Xenoblade has some lovely locations and a resolution bump would definitely do wonders (am hoping the apparent memory leaks in 2 and 3 would also get fixed, it was an issue in 3 since iirc on longer play sessions it could cause quest NPCs to vanish) and TTYD on switch also looks really nice but it would be nice to have the 60fps like the original GC version.

i would say Xenoblade (any of em) would be my most wanted upgrades at least when it comes to first party (third party would be any of the Trails games especially Daybreak 1 and 2)

Re: Sonic The Hedgehog Kicks Off 35th Anniversary Celebrations In Style

Mgalens

@Gamecuber
i do wonder if some of the "hold right" arguments partially came because some of the later 2d games, especially advance 2 onwards, had a greater emphasis on the "going fast" aspect of the series with more automated segments, objects such as dash-pads and in the case of sonic rush, a button which instantly made you go from 0-Fast instantly, not saying those games are bad but there's definitely a big difference between the original-games/mania and something like the advance/rush or even sonic 4 games, and while we had mega collection on gamecube and whatnot i imagine quite a few peoples first exposure after sega went third-party were games like the original sonic advance.

Re: Sonic The Hedgehog Kicks Off 35th Anniversary Celebrations In Style

Mgalens

@RainbowGazelle
mentioned it in another comment section when the "nostalgia" argument came up but For me if anything the Classic sonic games are something i enjoyed much more as i got older since i appreciated the game physics and momentum based gameplay more, and while the first game still felt like it was figuring out the level design, from sonic 2 onwards it felt like everything flowed much better.

@HammerKirby
i am definitely curious to see where the next game is going, i really enjoyed shadow generations and feel if they can capture that kind of feeling with a full lenght game its something i would really love.

Re: Tales Of Berseria Remastered - Switch Performance And Resolution Detailed

Mgalens

@GoldenSunRM
and in the case of the switch versions (in Graces and Xillias case) running at half the combat framerate of the original versions.

Berseria is an odd case in that while it did have a ps3 version which iirc ran at 30 it wasnt released in the west though fortunately unlike Zestiria they got 60 for the ps4 version which is more in line with the rest of the series.

While the 30fps combat didnt bug me too much in the later symphonia ports and the 3ds port of abyss i imagine it would make more of a difference with something like graces, Xillia and Berseria which all have some kind of perfect dodge mechanic and a lot more going on with the combat (from what i hear Graces on switch also introduced additional input lag which sounds like it would make bosses a nightmare on harder difficulties considering the emphasis on last second dodges)

Re: Falcom Reiterates Support For Switch 2, Currently Working On New Port

Mgalens

@xenobladexfan
Yeah cold steel 1 and 2 would be the most exciting for me since those (and sky 3rd depending on if they plan on remaking) are the only ones not playable on switch 2 (in the west at least)

though to be fair even if it ends up being a switch 2 version of a previous one i would be cool, especially something like daybreak 1 and 2 since from the sounds of things those would benefit the most from an upgrade. (as for zero/azure, still hoping that those at least get a fix for the FMV issue)

though does make me wonder how many games would be viable for a port which aren't CS 1/2 or a game released on switch 1, without going into PSP or prior territory (not that i would complain seeing something like Ys Seven come to switch)

Re: Opinion: Metroid Prime 4 Does This One Thing Better Than Any Other Nintendo Game

Mgalens

@BrazillianCara
Yeah the Xenoblade comment felt odd, especially when with an RPG people go in expecting and wanting character interactions and the like, look at FFXIII for example where one of the criticisms is the lack of slower moments where you can explore towns and talk to NPCs.

As for the other stuff while i still do feel like the subject of "accessibility" in gaming can often begin and end with player skill/difficulty Nintendo is at least slowly making progress when it comes to things like control options, especialy if you compare back with the wii where things like adaptive controllers wouldnt have even been a viable option though there are some exceptions (feels odd that the game centered around Wheelchair basketball doesnt support a lot of these kinds of accessibility options)

Naturally they still have a way to go and i do appreciate articles raising as much awareness as possible and keeping dev's/publishers on their toes which hopefully will help with progress.

a bit of a ramble here but im not good with editing or brevity.

Re: Tales Of Berseria Remastered - Switch Performance And Resolution Detailed

Mgalens

@Ashina
Graces F was odd since the original Graces on wii ran at 60 in combat and while graces F had some improvements it was still 60 back on ps3, same with Xillia.

Does make me hope they end up getting native switch 2 versions but its odd that they got Vesperias combat running right (was 60fps on 360 and stayed that on switch 1) Maybe something changed in how the remasters are developed or something (or different teams)

Re: Review: Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance (GameCube) - Aged & Easier Than You're Used To, But Still A Winner

Mgalens

@Expa0
Thats interesting regarding difficulty levels, ive seen a few examples of the opposite where an easy mode was named "normal" in a later release, such as megaman 2, FF4 and recently Fantasian, where said later releases added an easy mode called "normal" while the original difficulty was presented as the "hard" mode but forgot if ive seen other examples of the normal being called "easy", i think Devil may cry 3 may have done something similar, i think the japanese hard mode on that was "normal" in the west (none DC version) or something

Re: Today Is Doug Bowser's Final Day As Nintendo Of America President

Mgalens

@Mariotag
an RPG on wii, was more of an old school style one with a world map and whatnot, it had a lot of elements similar to the Tales-of series but had turn based combat instead of real-time.

I remember really enjoying it, the voice acting was infamous but the game itself i found a lot of fun, boss fights in particular could be very punishing but it didnt really feel grindy due to how much you could mess around with your character setup.

iirc the devs (imageepoch) went bankrupt a while back and their last game was an rpg called stella glow on 3ds in 2015, the publisher was marvelous entertainment in japan who are still around i think.

it was initially planned to release in europe down the line (this was a time when european releases for japanese rpgs would often be months later than the US release) but that was later canceled and unfortunately the wii was fully region locked (i eventually imported a US wii and some games since the price wasnt too high at that point since it was a few years into the system lifespan)

Region locking was an unfortunate thing back then especially for fans of japanese rpgs, since it was often a crap-shoot whether they would even make it over to europe (many classics from back in the day didnt) and when they did it could be months or more before they did, it was why i was dissapointed that the 3ds was region locked since most handhelds (at least the previous ones from nintendo plus the 2 sony ones) were region free, then it was later revealed the wiiu would be region locked during a time when other systems had been moving away from region locking (iirc xbox it depended on the game, i think a similar case was with playstation but i think only 2 or 3 games in the whole library were region locked)

Re: Today Is Doug Bowser's Final Day As Nintendo Of America President

Mgalens

@Samalik
Thats one of the reasons why i dont miss region lock, while i live in England so that particular game made it here, the amount of games (mainly rpgs including a bunch of known classics) which skipped europe during the nes>ps2 era made me dread it when i found out that not only was the wii region locked in an era where region locking was on its way out (i think only a couple of games on ps3 were region locked and one of them was an MMO) but then the 3ds was region locked which was extremely rare for a handheld (GB, GBC, GBA ,DS were all region free) further still the wiiu was also.

But looking back at the wii and that situation it was odd how things went down since usually its europe that misses out of games like that but games like Disaster, Xenoblade, Last story, Pandoras tower etc the situation was reversed, but at least the latter 3 did eventually release over there, on the other hand i was dissapointed that Arc rise fantasia had its EU release canceled (ended up importing it down the line alongside a US wii with some other games, was a fun RPG with some not so great voice acting but some fun bosses which i sadly dont see getting re-released/remastered since i think the original devs went under or something along those lines)

Re: More Switch Games Have Received Compatibility Updates For Switch 2

Mgalens

It can be harder to find out if games got BC fixes when they are marked as "compatible" such as games like the Klonoa collection getting fixed a while back (found out from a forum post)

As usual im still hoping that one of these firmware updates can fix the issue of FMV cutscenes not playing in Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure, since as mentioned prior they are 2 games which are listed as compatible but have issues where most FMV cutscenes just dont play which is frustrating since these are games which like a lot of older rpgs, use FMV cutscenes for some major moments in the game.

@Thomystic
iirc they dropped the ps2 compatibility in some of the later 'phat' ps3 systems, i think that was the case with mine, i got it around a year or so before the slim and it ran psone games but didnt have ps2 BC