MontyCircus

The Shmups Forum has had an annual poll for 20 years.

R-Type Delta has made the "Top 25 Shmups of All Time" list in the past, and was an honourable mention in the latest poll.

In the latest poll, the original R-Type was voted the #24 best shmup of all-time.

In the past, both R-Type III: The Third Lightning and R-Type Final have been honourable mentions.

A good point. Yes, that was odd.

@RainbowSplatter

According to Google, upwards of 97% of Dutch people speak English, and "the Netherlands is one of the top countries in the world for English proficiency as a second language".

Not every people in every country has mandatory English lessons in primary school. So it's not hard to imagine why they would see options of "Japanese or English" as a "bummer".

Here are all the Game Awards nominees that are on Switch or NS2:

• Hades II - 6 nominations (Game of the Year, Direction, Art Direction, Score and Music, Independent, Action)
• Hollow Knight: Silksong - 5 nominations (Game of the Year, Art Direction, Score and Music, Independent, Action/Adventure)
• Donkey Kong Bananza - 2 nominations (Game of the Year, Family)
• Split Fiction - 4 nominations (Game Direction, Action/Adventure, Family, Multiplayer)
• EA Sports FC 26 - 2 nominations (Innovation in Accessibility, Sports/Racing)
• Fortnite - 2 nominations (Ongoing, Community Support)
• No Man's Sky - 2 nominations (Ongoing, Community Support)
• Mario Kart World - 2 nominations (Family, Sports/Racing)
• Sonic Racing: Crossworlds - 2 nominations (Family, Sports/Racing)
• Absolum - 1 nomination (Independent)
• Ball x Pit - 1 nomination (Independent)
• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance - 1 nomination (Action)
• Capcom Fighting Collection 2 - 1 nomination (Fighting)
• Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection - 1 nomination (Fighting)
• Lego Party! - 1 nomination (Family)
• Lego Voyagers - 1 nomination (Family)
• Final Fantasy Tactics - The Ivalice Chronicles - 1 nomination (Sim/Strategy)
• Sid Meier's Civilization VII - 1 nomination (Sim/Strategy)
• Two Point Museum - 1 nomination (Sim/Strategy)

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was nominated for 2 Game Awards:

• Best Performance
• Best Action/Adventure

There have been 6 nominees for Game of the Year for the last 8 years, going back to 2018.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle's highest MetaCritic score is "88" for PS5. The others were "87" for PC and "86" for Series X.

Every Game of the Year winner of the past decade has had a MetaCritic score of "89" or higher on at least one platform.

Of the 6 nominations this year, only Kingdom Come: Deliverance II failed to get an "89" or higher. It got an "88" on all 3 platforms it was released on: PC, PS5, and Series X.

Ninja Gaiden 4 was nominated for Best Action Game.

Europe looks like someone having a rough time on the toilet.

Japan has all the passion.

Getting:

• DRAGON BALL: Sparking! ZERO
• Goodnight Universe
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
• Yakuza Kiwami 2
• Videoverse (It's got a "90" for PC on MetaCritic)

Already had:

• Atelier Ryza Trilogy (doesn't look like the DX upgrade is at all essential)
• Dave the Diver (getting the NS2 upgrade)
• Overcooked 2 (getting the NS2 upgrade)
• Yakuza Kiwami (getting the NS2 upgrade)

This is still the undisputed king of video game-related music:

There is an eShop discount if you already have the NS1 version digitally.

Either that or it's 66% off on sale right now.

The only one I don't have is Princess Peach. The reviews were that it was a rare "miss" by the Big N, and people's comments since then have not been very enthusiastic either.

Sure the Japanese one is the best.

......but you know the NA one made you giggle. And who doesn't like to giggle?

I found it a glorious representation of old school '80s game art.

I just got the NS2 upgrade. I already had the season pass. But afterward I checked and still did not have the "Too Many Cooks Pack".

I don't think the upgrade includes any DLC.

Getting:

• Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment
• Boxes: Lost Fragment (everyone missed this puzzle box game this week)

Things I enjoy about NL:

• It covers just about everything Nintendo
• It is often the "FIRST!" game review on MetaCritic, so it gets us our first sniff as early as possible
• The forums and comments are much "nicer" than other dark areas of the Internet. It's refreshing to disagree with someone, and not expect a reply to come back that they want you to die.

Every gaming console I ever got as a kid, was under the Christmas tree.

Be patient. Their frenzy will come!

Added to my wishlist:

• Bad End Theater
• Call of the Sea
• Deathwish Enforcers.
• Flynn: Son of Crimson

Getting:

• Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted
• Persona 3 Reload
• Once Upon a Katamari
• PowerWash Simulator 2
• Two Point Museum
• Achilles: Survivor (everyone in the poll missed this one!)

That's interesting, thanks for sharing!

Others might like to know that the first in the City Connection "Final" series was Final Exerion. They are "re-imagining" old, dusty Jaleco games. This new one is based on Formation Z. Both original games are also on Switch as part of Arcade Archives.

Reminds me of what Tengo Project are doing with the Natsume games. I love those to bits!

Getting:

• Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection (dream come true!)
• Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake
• Two Point Museum

Reminder: They advise you play III Remake first, before I & II Remake, as 3 is a prequel to the first 2, and they added some stuff in to make it a more connected experience.

IGN rated it #93 on their "Top 100 NES Games of All Time" list.

I haven't played any of the games in the compilation, and most of them have very high MetaCritic scores, as well as great reviews for a couple on PC and WiiU.

So I'll be getting this.

Yeah, I would buy a proper NS2 version of art of rally.

Sounds like I'm not alone!

An "old games" hater, AND an NSO complainer? No thank you.

Whoa! They almost suckered me with that one! Thanks for the heads-up.

Looks like this week everyone is getting out of Pokemon's way.

Getting:

• An English Haunting (a pixel graphics point-and-click adventure game!)
• Deathless. The Hero Quest (roguelike deckbuilder)

Still on the fence:

• Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (reaction seems mixed, and I'm not a big Poke-fan)
• Just Dance 2026 Edition (haven't bought one in a while, but up for some silly family fun)

But...but but...the Internet assures me that "Switch 2 has no games!"

Cyberpunk is over 60GB. If there's any game to pay full price on physical for, it's this one (for comparison, S1 games were rarely over 10GB).

I bought it full-price on physical, purposefully so that I wouldn't be tempted by any future digital sales.

Have you ever thought of showing the totals for an entire year of the What are you Playing this Weekend survey? I think it would be neat to see.

That would be like the NL forum version of "Year in Review". It could be a month by month breakdown, totaled up, and then the year's most-played!

People on comment sections often say "who are these games for? If people wanted to play these 'old' games, they would have already."

I've never owned a PS or Xbox anything. I don't play action games on my laptop.

Game of the Year nominees on my Switch 2? That play pretty well? Yes please!

His "final post" was memorable. I've read it a few times.

It's rated "Overwhelmingly Positive" by over 600 users on Steam (the highest possible rating).

And a very solid "86" for PC on MetaCritic.

The most important thing to know about EGGCONSOLE games is THEY ARE ALL IN JAPANESE!!!

Except for menus. So, assuming you can't read Japanese text, it's best to stay far away from RPGs or anything with a story. I've picked up a few action games, like Thexder, which I had back in the day. And Relics, Hydlide, Silpheed and Xanadu.

Getting:

• Arcade Archives 2 GEE BEE
• Absolum
• Ys vs. Trails in the Sky: Alternative Saga

Already had base game, so not buying again for all the DLC:

• Disgaea 7 Complete

I checked out the eShop to see what the upgrade would be.

It was like $6 Canadian.

That was nice to see. Easy choice there.

Now it's:

"A delayed game is eventually good, a rushed game's MetaCritic score is forever bad...unless it is improved and then re-released with a slightly different name."

Polygon's headline summed it up perfectly:

"The Mario Galaxy Remasters Offer Two Masterpieces For The Price Of Two"

I already have the first one in 3D All-Stars, and I'm not a "must-buy physical" guy...but for some reason I'm leaning towards getting the physical combo.

I traded in my Shin Megami Tensei V copy at GameStop for Vengeance, because then at least it wasn't 2x the price. Plus I traded in for a new game, which gives you even more value.

I might have similarly double-dipped for this, but I bought the original version digitally.

Getting:

• Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (I mean...I already have the first one from Super Mario 3D All-Stars, so I don't need to get them both collected...but...I think I'm going to anyway...I can't help myself...)
• Final Fantasy Tactics
• Dawnfolk Surprised to see everyone missed this one in the poll. Let me just give you Steam's genre description for it:
• Pixel Graphics
• Roguelite
• Strategy
• City Builder

Probably getting:

• Shujinkou Dungeon crawler and I get to learn Japanese at the same time? That's cool. But need some S2 reviews.

That's cool! Finally, those of us from far away can get a taste of what the Nintendo Museum is like without having to shell out thousands and fly all the way aro..........aaand it's only available in the museum.

Great.

It's straight to my wishlist because of its big historical importance:

• Namco's first video game
• Toru Iwatani (creator of Pac-Man)'s first video game

But the fact that it also DOES look at least "kinda fun", for a game from 1978 (that's Space Invaders' year!), is remarkable too.

And the added incentive of Switch 2 mouse control compatibility to replicate a spinner/knob controller? Great stuff!

Mina the Hollower gets Halloween to itself now.

She must have read Reggie's book:

"How I Became President of Nintendo of America,
...And How You Can Too!"

100% success rate!

Silksong was supposed to be the best indie game of all-time.

Turns out it wasn't even the best indie game of the month.

#ThrowingShadeOnAGameOfTheYearCandidate

We got the Castlevania collection a year before Japan?

That's a switch!

As the stand-up comedy joke went:

"Tourists to New York City always flock to...the M&M store! Because where else can you buy M&M's? Oh that's right, literally in EVERY OTHER STORE IN THE COUNTRY!!!"

Getting:

• Hades II
• Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile
• EA SPORTS FC 26
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Still not sure:

• The Touryst: Deluxe (worth the upgrade? And it's cheaper for owners somehow? How does that work?)
• Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac (they say it's better than the first one...and I am a Pac-nut...soo...)

Getting:

• Street Fighter 6 (but it's very confusing that the Years 1-2 Fighters Edition isn't included in the sale? Maybe they're counting on people who waited 4 months to buy the base game on sale to then inexplicably buy the PRICEY DLC at full-price for some reason? I'm getting the base game 'cause it's pretty cheap, and waiting, probably not very long, to get DLC later on a sale).
• Capcom Fighting Collection 2

Yes.

Going for the cheap cardboard ones, to get my once-in-a-life fix of Virtual Boy, while I lie in bed with my hands over my head.