Minfinity

I'm just gonna say it: the Switch entries for Mario Sports are wildly overhated. I get the disagreement with the trickle feed of content, but when you look at the games in their current state, they're so much fun to play and offer a great balance of easy pick-up for quick play and a high skill roof for those who want to sink their teeth in.

@Kyloctopus in fairness, the standard mode to play through a song is called "Street Performance"!

Good! This game was a lot of fun! A bit more "time sink" than I usually allow myself to get into, but I quite enjoyed playing and hope they find a way to give the game legs to stand on.

Hopefully that's "not available on 3DS" is a "yet" statement... I really don't want to hack my consoles.

Outside of being more revolutionary, there isn't a whole lot I could really argue to say BotW is "better". As far as sequels go, TotK addressed nearly every issue people took with BotW, and added many incredible additions.

I don't see a need to really say one is better; because of the way the franchise is, with completely different worlds/art styles between entries, I pretty much consider BotW, TotK (and I suppose AoC, kinda) to be parts of a grand series rather than something episodic, which is what we're used to.

More than anything, I just find the whole conversation fascinating if not a bit odd - there was so much talk of "just DLC", then it swung back to "BotW is redundant", now back to "BotW was actually better". I dunno.

Right on!!! Absolutely adore this game, and it seems to address my only real gripe, being that the stages didn't have quite the level of setting diversity that Turtles in Time had.

They say "characters" though, so I'm interested to see who else is joining!

I'd drink only the finest teas from that mug 🫠

@EarthboundBenjy I know nothing about the real deal programing side of things, but given the loading sequences when playing, it looks like a lot of the actual reception of the badges from the machines when you win them is tied to the eShop. If so, that complicates things a lot more from a technical side than a simple flick of the switch.

@Potato-man I saw a post about the game's set up that indicated that even after the eShop closes, you can access your badge box and stuff to decorate your homescreen, but the machines will all just be down.

Nice! This was never even on my radar, but I'll have to add it to my wishlist Thanks for the review!

@626b thanks a lot! I'll probably have to go the YT route since a copy of 999 is hard to come by these days :/

I understand Virtue's Last Reward to be a sequel to 999; is it necessary for my enjoyment to play it/know about it?

That's one way to push for a second/third wind for Ring Fit Adventure sales!

I mean... I guess there must be people playing this, so good for them?

@Haruki_NLI Ah, ok. Yeah, weird :/

@Haruki_NLI Pokemon games actually make up a small fraction for the IP's money compared to anime, cards, merch, etc. - that GF has no foot in. So while, yes, there is that one third ownership, I'm sure the pressure to keep up with the lines that bring in the bulk of the money is immense.

As for the amiibo thing, eh, I don't know. Many first party Nintendo games don't use them either; my guess is that it's more of a time issue than anything else - unless you've seen a statement I haven't.

@Mr_Gamecube At the end of the day, Nintendo is the publisher and therefore takes the responsibility in some sense for allowing the games to release regardless of the issues. Imo, GF doesn't have as much to apologize about since the timeframes they're given aren't so much in their hands.

It's certainly not a black and white issue and I don't know all the ins and outs though.

Lists like these are always tricky - weighing out design, main game use, competitive use, etc. Overall though, an understandable list.

Personally, I would rank 6<3<5<7<2<8<1<4. No nostalgia behind 4 either, as I have yet to touch DP in any capacity, but from a design and tactical approach, I respect what they did there massively and wish they would try multiple advantage cycles again.

I guess I understand wanting to keep the consistency, but it's a shame I can't get the other steed. Ah well. Maybe I'll just do another playthrough. The rewards are well worth my time anyway!

I was so close to getting one from Canada just now! I was able to load up the button to get it in my cart, but it wouldn't complete the action; refreshed the page, and it swapped to sold out D':

The framing of the NA/EU one takes a lot from it, but at the end of the day, it's a much more engaging graphic that tells a lot more about the contents of the game

@Rayquaza2510 Granted, I'm someone who liked the idea of megas better than their execution, I like that they keep changing things up. To me, it breathes more life into the Pokemon world, since different technologies, cultural, or geographical particulars about the nation shape up how battle is done rather than just stacking new stuff on top of each other. It also has the effect of making each generation feel unique enough that you can visit it again without the game feeling dated/lacking what future games have.

Just a friendly counter take; I like the discussion

By the sound of the scores, this will be a not-for-everyone game, but for those it's for, it will be a homerun. Nothing wrong with that!

This would be great. Emulation legality/ethicalness is a conversation I'm tired of hearing about. Make it so these games have to be available legally in some format, so it can be more black and white already.

For the record, this goes both ways. Companies should make games reasonably accessible; people shouldn't be emulating reasonably accessible games imo.

Nope. Not a happy coincidence: EBA are real, and helped make this happen

@Dman10 Found these stats for highest earning videogame company CEOs in 2020:
Robert Antokol (Playtika) – $372 million
Bobby Kotick (Activision Blizzard) – $154.6 million
Andrew Paradise (Skillz) – $103.3 million
Andrew Wilson (EA) – $34.7 million
Frank Gibeau (Zynga) – $32 million
John Riccitiello (Unity) – $22 million
Strauss Zelnick (Take-Two) – $18.1 million
Taek-Jin Kim (NCsoft) – $15.6 million
Min-Liang Tan (Razer) – $10.4 million
Debbie Bestwick (Team17) – $10.2 million

@FiveDigitLP I think your point about it "having to be done right" is one reason it hasn't really been done. Even within the realm of Christianity, there are so many ways people interpret the text that even what would be seen as "right" to one set may feel way off base to others. It would take some fine discernment to make something that pleased everyone - much less a secular market.

To stay on topic about this game though, the game looks like it could be good fun. I'd be interested in checking more about what interpretations they take and how they depict characters and situations.

It's interesting: the narrative I'm seeing is that Nintendo had a much bigger sway in pokemon development between this and the adding of Kanto for Gen 2.

I wonder if after that, the series just took off so much they felt they could just leave it, or maybe they just had other titles to focus on since the series sells amazingly regardless. It's well possible that more happens behind the scenes than we know, but I wonder what the conversation is like surrounding Nintendo involving themselves in this modern era

@Tyranexx @MatthewYoung

Hard disagree on both counts (though obviously, you are free to have your own opinion.

I actually found that the new battle system incredible. DS TWEWY is still amazing, but I actually found myself more engaged and encouraged to swap things up with this one. You describe the single input to a character correctly, and yes, you can just stack multiple characters on single buttons for it to be more monotonous, but if collecting pins and upgrading them all is important to your experience, you'll get much more out of it. As the game introduces more into the battles, your timing for attacks becomes more important to rack high damage and reap rewards from battles (which is key if you want to play on higher difficulties). The battle becomes more about finding the ebb and flow of timing all your pins together to combo up, and just swapping out one or two pins can make you remap your entire approach. I will grant that yeah, enemy variety was lacking in terms of what you would hope from a sequel, but I never found battles to get stale; and even if I did, you can cruise right past them anyway.

Plot/story is a bit more subjective, and I can see how some people would find it lesser to the original. Without going into spoilers, a flaw is certainly that it heavily relies on you being aware of the events of TWEYW:FR in order to appreciate fully - and at times comprehend - what's happening, but I think that once that platform is there, there is lots for OG fans to enjoy. There are a couple chapters where the dialog does overstay its welcome (especially a specific day in Week 3). And to be fair, I don't think the original is exempt from that either. Personally, I found the cast charming overall and have a good chemistry. The story does a good job of having relevant plot points that make it feel current, and there are some great times to be had with the dialogue at many instances.

Not sure how important it is to you, but the music ABSOLUTELY slaps in this too.

At any rate, I think the sale price is well worth the entry ticket for you to make your own judgement

I'm so bummed that Nintendo published The World Ends With You: Final Remix, meaning it will NEVER go on sale

@LoveRose_428 I'm no crypto fan by any means, but to be fair, he explicitly details that he's on board with the concept, not necessarily the way it's currently being implemented.
In the article itself, he says it has to be something for the player's benefit and not a means of money making for the developers.

Obviously feel free to have you're opinion, but just for the record

@MarioBrickLayer well, strictly answering your statement, if only 20% was ground action, I would question why it was there at all.

I get what you're saying though. As a 3D adventure game, Adventures is pretty solid. I think the fair argument to be made though is that it's quite clear when elements were intended for Rare's original IP, and when StarFox aspects were added in way later (I mean, Andross feels straight up shoehorned imo).

That all said, yeah, the addition of Krystal and Dinosaur Planet as a location certainly don't invalidate the game as not a "real" StarFox game, but I think it's fair to question how to rank it among titles that more typically fit the gameplay the franchise is known for.

@Slinkoy1 At it's basic level, unionizing is a 3rd party that has the sole job of making sure that employees are treated fairly in terms of pay, workplace environment, etc., and often seek out ways that the company can do more for employees. Employees essentially hire them collectively, paying annual fees.
The thing that can be intimidating from a company's perspective, is that they get payed by employees to improve their working conditions, basically meaning that if the union doesn't find ways to do this, employees question why they're paying, and they drop it. So basically, unions will often cost companies more or the risk of strikes happen. Especially at the start of unions, this was necessary cause it was REALLY bad. It still isn't near perfect today, and many companies are well in need of the unions they have.
Now, Nintendo is usually regarded as a cut above most when it comes to how they treat their employees in terms of lifestyle and - more objectively - they have smaller pay gaps between base employees and higher ups. So this is why this story is big, and why it will be interesting to see if other stories come out from other employees that voice a need for unionizing.

I feel like the people who design stuff like this get sorely forgotten about when praising this game. Those Splatoon maps/UIs are super good. Quite a bit of information communicated in a way that's clear, snappy, and stylish. Can't wait to see what's new this time around!

@spiderman0616 Super Mario Kart SP is well worth being there because all the cups and ccs are already unlocked from the start. Otherwise, you need to start at Mushroom Cup 50cc and work your way up.

Honestly, I think they've mostly been implemented well as a way to dip into a cool feature before investing masses into the game. Wouldn't do it for VC format, but it works for this model imo

@Mgalens oh for sure, and I still have my Wii U hooked up too. I was referring to the Wii shop and DSi shop specifically since that's what this article is addressing.

I'm more sympathetic about the Wii U/3DS situation, and certainly see the principal of the issue as unfortunate and problematic. That said, I don't think many would deny that those eShops have gotten significantly more attention/sales in the last couple months than they have the last few years

I get the principal of the matter, but the sometimes it just sounds like people are hearing some news, then bolting up to their attics to dust their Wii's off, rummaging around for a cable that will actually connect it to their modern TV, and then acting like they're actually effected by this. Even if it redownload were gone for good.

And some people say the 3DS version is inferior...

For real though, that was amazing!

@CairiB In the Kickstarter for the book, he got a bonus prequel

@nessisonett It's not a graphic novel exactly, it's am image-heavy choose your own adventure.

I highly recommend it - even if you're not into Shakespeare. It's so funny!

@NintendoKnight Calling it now: the game is taking this long cause they want to be sure the DK Bongos remain a viable way to play. Bookmark this.

Looks interesting. It honestly reminds me of what I literally did on road trips as a kid, timing my blinks to when certain objects cross over my gaze and attempting to make a rhythm from it. How it will translate in actual gameplay will have to be seen, but if they pull this off, I could this being quite the 'zentense' experience that I will be completely there for.

@LUIGITORNADO Not sure if that's a typo (and I hope it is), cause those seem like rather petty things to hope for the studio to shut down for... and I say that as a W101 double-dipper/backer too. Sure, it hasn't been handled quickly, and yes, communication has been poor, but the reality is that they are a small studio that seems to bite off more than they can chew... but once it's all digested, I still think their output is pretty solid

@Royalblues From the footage of Bayo 3 we have, looks like they salvaged some core mechanics from Scalebound and poured them into that instead.

Sad in a way since I agree it looked pretty sweet, but at least the ideas behind it seem to be breaking into the light

@DiggleDog yes. I mean no company is perfect, and there's always room for improvements in areas, but I always roll my eyes when I see "Nintendo is an evil company" posts, when the reality is that when it comes to things like respectful treatment of their employees, they're among industry leaders

@Dingelhopper Not completely disagreeing with the heart of what you're saying, but technically, despite them being experienced devs, they are still indie devs if they are operating on their own rather than with the funding and benefits of being in a company, just like how a senior member of Pizza Hut could leave the company, make his own pizza place with his own cash, and call himself a small business owner.

Yeah, I also backed Yooka-Laylee and agree it was quite mid in-light of how it was hyped, but its success also allowed for The Impossible Layer to come into existence, and that is a high tier platformer imo.

If that's your experience, then sure, obviously it's your money. That said, if everyone thought that way, none of these games would ever happen. I think it's more fair to just be cautious and expect delays to happen - especially on the projects that max out on stretch goals, which usually aren't factored into the original date. Sure it's the responsibility of the dev to be clear with their communication, but bottom line, with any job, stuff happens. And I say this as someone who has backed about ten games and has had a full range of experiences.

@ThomasBW84 I get the impression they had no idea how many people would actually jump on board to make that DLC a reality. That studio has way too many projects on the go at the moment, and it makes me so sad because I really enjoy this game and this whole thing does not bode well with its public percption

@Dingelhopper To be fair, yes, it is a bit of a gamble, but Kickstarter also allowed for absolute bangers like Shovel Knight, Undertale, Hollow Knight, Yooka-Laylee, Monster Crown, Colors Live!, Bloodstained, and more to exist in the first place.

While what's happening with this established studio is slightly different, at the very least, Kickstarter is great for supporting new indie developers and makes the reality of how difficult the game-creating process really is visible to others.

Me, also an OMORI backer:

Welcome to the waiting club. I've been here since 2014.

(Not saying what's happening here is fine, just finding some humour in both situations)

That 'MAGIC!' one needs to be a meme