NintendoWife

To be fair, in terms of brand value / popularity Sonic was the junior partner in this, by far.

@canaryfarmer Ok, I see. Well nothing wrong with that and to each their own. Myself I seem to not actually play games from that era anymore (the chance was there through two generations of Virtual Console and now two generations of the online service, in addition I bought the NES & SNES mini - not using any of them. So I've learned my lesson )

Wait, these are just the NES versions, nothing remade? 😐 Aren't some of them on the online service even?

Ah nonsense. S2 is doing pretty well so far. It's a very pleasant system to use.

I agree that Nintendo should really start teasing more of the heavily anticipated games. Ideally, thoughout the first 3 years or so, they should always have one of their heavyweights "coming up" to keep people excited. Imagine if we'd already gotten a 3D Mario teaser, or one for Zelda or Smash. My guess is that MKW and Bananza (and Prime 4) didn't do that job quite as well as Nintendo thought which now causes a small dip. But a February Direct might already fix that.

" "So -33% in 5 months: Investors are spooked by possible price hikes, lack of 1st-party hits and US/EU hardware discounts during the holidays."
Honestly, we're not sure what the heck is going on with that last point. Was anyone really expecting to see a console discount within the first year of sale? Christmas or not, that just seems bonkers to us. "

That might be a misunderstanding due to unclear enumeration - you sure they meant "lack of discounts" and not "discounts"?

@Pillowpants Daedalic is only publishing this one though. Afaik they shut down their development studios after Gollum (they've always been a publisher too). Oh and they've been bought by a French company too, in the process.

Actually I was really interested in playing Gollum, out of curiosity But it's not coming to Nintendo anymore, obviously.

Glad they’re making a 4K update, every major Nintendo game should have that. So that’s good.

Multiplayer on the other hand… sometimes I wonder with Nintendo: Unless you’re a school kid with unlimited friends and time, who has an opportunity for all that multiplayer gaming?

"The game’s focus on NPCs"
It's quite a stretch wording it that way. Focus? I'm halfway through and the NPCs play such a small part... For hours on end you're on your own, I don't know what the fans are on about.

Japan looks like a poster I'd hang up, really cool.

Very cool hearing from your time back in the magazine age!

I still can't imagine how the cardboard variant (the only one I'm considering) is supposed to work without a stand. Are you seriously supposed to hold it up to your face? Sounds like fun for all of 20 seconds. Or will you play laying on your back?

Best new info form this text is the emulator for 3DS I hadn't heard about! That's the logical way to re-release VB games without the headache of goggles.

People, everybody's talking about hands but Mario's mouth doesn't look right either!

@Kilroy It only really applies to the overworld, no? The largest portion of the game (that I’ve played so far) takes place within “dungeons”, which are extensive puzzles in themselves with typically no communication available. Plenty of opportunities to get stuck and lost and confused. I did need a walkthrough every now and then.

I don’t think it’s the price, even though the general hike is very unwelcome. If they had a few must-have games people would buy regardless. But those are missing so far. There’s plenty of good games (many of them upgrades), but blockbusters? Mario Kart is the only of the big series (Mario, Zelda, Smash, Animal Crossing, mainline Pokémon, Mario Party - the 10+ Million sellers that dominate the Switch 1 bestsellers list) with a new entry so far, that was quite a risky plan.

I bought one and I am quite happy though.

Pastel de nada.

J/k, looking good actually. I don't feel any need to buy a second pair thanks to Nintendo's generous policy of supporting Joycon 1.

It looks very decent! Not too confusing either, despite all the wackyness. Could be good!

Curious what testers will say about single player appeal, that's always a decider for me.

A bit off-topic, but a few days ago I read all about the controversy with their previous composer Mick Gordon (it's an old story that you all are surely familiar with already, a looong read too) - it does not sound like the heads behind Wolfenstein are decent people...

To be fair, I would never play their games anyway cause I don't enjoy violence. But still, fascinating read, and it sounded like a horrible experience.

@Kilroy No, I’m not speaking for anyone. I am telling you my observations / impressions. And those are: Hardcore MP fans appear unaware that their dream game would not be fun for newcomers.

Let’s address your points:

• Forced hand holding / guidance. I’m 10 hours & three keys in (or four?). The total guidance amounts to, say, 30 seconds of dialog so far. Is that really worth the tantrum? And I’ve still done plenty of pointless backtracking because they wait quite long before they give you a hint. Really, if I weigh the fantastic experience and production values against those 30 seconds it’s laughable. I understand your suggestion of keeping hints optional though, maybe they’ll patch it in. Should be easy.
• Samus Returns: You’re right! I haven’t played either. I was done with the 3DS at that point and regretted that they only released it there, not for Switch. So I assumed it was a rather straight remake.
• Linearity: Thumbs up from me
• Enemy variety: Since I don’t particularly enjoy combat, I am glad there’s so little of it overall. What’s there is fun though.
• Desert: Yeah, that’s poor. I mean, it looks good, but you quickly realize it’s dead and empty and devoid of secrets. I’d like a fast travel method.
• Constructive criticism: I was of course not referring to you only, but to what I saw on this site and others. And there were plenty of rather unconstructive criticisms (“steaming turd”). Is it going to lead to a better next game? That’s ultimately decided by sales, and those seem to be bad - early impressions.

See, I am in a quite similar situation with Zelda. I prefer the games before BOTW by a mile, and I regret that that style is probably not coming back. But I can’t and won’t argue with the fact that BOTW and TOTK found a new audience, and a huge one at that. Compare that to MP4. It seems to neither please the old nor win over the new. That’s not good.

Regarding Game Key Cards: Not desirable at all, but what the others said about today's state of "physical games" is very true as well. When at some point in the future the servers won't be up anymore, most physical games will be reduced to a bad unpatched state, if playable at all. That's very worrying. I wonder how we will all deal with it once Nintendo announces their deadline date. I plan to insert all the games I own and make sure I've downloaded the latest patch for every one of them. And then hope for the system to never break (is there something like a full backup for Switch 1/2? One that would preserve the update data?).

@Kilroy Of the three releases you named two are re-releases of 20-30 year old classics, so that leaves Dread as the only new Metroid that got a warm reception in 18 years. And Prime 2 and 3 didn’t sell well either, so it’s an incredibly long time that this series is trying to find the success that it needs to justify the effort (these are costly AAA games).

I don’t speak for anyone, I’m merely commenting that this outcome must be so disheartening for Nintendo. So much hate from the very fan base for such a polished product. You’re shooting yourself in the foot, because Nintendo might just decide it’s not working out, ever.

@Spider-Kev No mention of Bluey, so probably not

On Topic: Can the DQ fans help me, I have never played one entry and I am already losing track of all the releases on Switch (2). What's a great starting point or rather, what's the DQ game you recommend at this point? Do they differ a lot? I'd prefer one with a great atmosphere and setting and story. Thank you

What's with the happy smile while she's badly bleeding from one eye - she should go see a doctor 😨

Aaah, Triforce Heroes... the only Zelda game I sold after playing just a few hours 💕 Weirdest choice for a re-release, it didn't sell at all - I don't believe it. I do agree that there's a slightly better chance for multiplayer to actually materialize on Switch than on 3DS. And this game does not work in single player, which is its biggest problem.

It would not do the job as a fitting anniversary Zelda release, not in the form of an untouched NSO release. I understand there will be no all-new game for this year, but at least some fantastic remake would be nice.

• Either one more 2D classic in the LA engine, there's a few: Minish Cap, the Oracles, ALttP. Triforce Heroes fully remade would be fine too, but I'd find it a puzzling choice due to its unpopularity.
• Or the rumored OOT remake, which I remain sceptical about, as a hi-res version seems like a huge undertaking (unlike porting OOT to the 3DS which was quite close to the N64 with its tiny screen).
• The least noteworthy option would be re-releasing TP HD and WW HD, they'd have to retouch them for 4k though.
• There's a few titles where I have no idea how they would attempt a remake, namely the DS titles (need stylus) and ALBW (needs stereoscopic 3D)

And one more comment: A few days ago I filled out that Nintendo survey abour MP4. Basically my feedback was that I enjoy it much more than I thought I would, and that they shouldn't let the haters throw them off. It's a good thing if Nintendo manage to open up the franchise to more people, because frankly the fanbase is hopeless anyway. They're never happy. It's a miracle that Nintendo keeps trying.

Many Metroid fans are unaware of how unintuitive much of the games is if you haven’t played the previous ones. So in that sense they have their own “guidance system”, namely their previous experience and the series’ consistency.

The game barely tells you how it works. It never tells you that you have to scan absolutely everything. It doesn’t tell you that you have to return to this or that place when you’re missing an upgrade. The only reason YOU know it is because you’ve been there before.

Nintendo haven't really published S2 game sales numbers so far, I am curious abour their next report. Their latest (the first report after S2 launch) only showed two games instead of the usual top 10, MKW and Donkey Kong. Might be they only list games above 1 million units.
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html

It feels like S2 software isn't doing as well as the system itself, but I might be wrong.

Probably unpopular opinion: I could use more guidance. Maybe it's due to the way I play the game - with days or even weeks between sessions - but I can be quite lost and clueless when I pick it back up. Zelda does a better job of filling you in about what you were up to. I wonder who the type are that complain about assistance systems. 24/7 gamers?

Anyway, I don't enjoy not knowing what to do, in particular when a game has no fast travel whatsoever.

Some announcement at least for the next Zelda and Mario is due, I feel. The tentpole releases for any Nintendo hardware generation.

Secondary Nintendo releases: I’d love a Paper Mario, was a big fan of Origami King. Splatoon single player adventure is a cool prospect.

Third parties are already looking nice with Indiana Jones, 007, Shenmue 3 and some more I forgot.

Well you can’t accuse him of having no opinions.

Well that’s random

Hmm bummer cause I was (am) looking forward to this one, but oh well.

@thedicemaster Sure. But 90€ is Nintendo‘s MSRP, and if you were to buy it from store.nintendo, that’s what they keep charging.

What I’m getting at is: It’s not meaningless. Nintendo tried to push the boundaries on the occasion of the new generation, MKW being the most outrageously priced item. It’s unusual that dealers discount the game by that much. And it’s gonna be interesting how Nintendo intends to backtrack. They can’t perpetually advertise a price that’s not in sync with the real world market.

A bit strange. Mario Kart as discounted pack-in was what made many people buy the system despite the overall price hike. And the standalone version is Nintendo’s priciest game yet at 90€, no way is it going to sell well on its own. It’s not actually super popular either. And what else is a system seller so far?

Phew tough one! The best game I have played this year on Switch 2 was the Galaxy collection. The best original game? Probably Metroid so far. Better than Bananza and Mario Kart.

No improvements on the color banding issue, sadly. You can still see moving rings and lines on every object with a gradient :/

Finally started Metroid, and after some confusion early on (simply due to my lack of FPS experience) I got into the groove today, it's great fun! Happy that I now have some big Nintendo adventure game ahead of me for the holidays. Don't think any of the diehard fans' complaints will matter to me as I am new to the series. I really like it.

I wonder if Metroid could turn out a flop... Started it 2 days ago and so far I think it’s really good! By you get the feeling that it’s gonna take a while to even clear a million world wide.

They often fix more than you’d think, it’s just their way to not disclose the details.

Personally I’d love to see them solve the color banding issue, it’s quite distracting at times. Gonna boot it up now.

@Res462 I thought I read that Nintendo already uses various cart sizes including smaller ones, but refuses to offer any options to third parties.

Let's hope so. Not offering various sizes to 3rd parties even though they exist was a real d*** move on Nintendo's part, no way around it.

@PikminMarioKirby I am kinda on the same page with game prices. But considering recent developments they might just have done something early that the rest of the market will now have to do, as well.

Amiibo prices are ridiculous, luckily they are easy to ignore entirely. Or rather, continue ignoring.

Game-Key-Cards... not great, but better than regular "digital only". At least it enables reselling, which can be a dealbreaker with games you're not sure about.

Not sure how I will deal with that in the future. So far every game I wanted was available on cartridge.

Does anybody else feel the naming scheme for these parts is weird? “Intergrade” sounds like it would be the middle game, “Rebirth” more like the start of a remake series.

Played through the demo yesterday and hmmmm… I don’t know. Didn’t memorize the control scheme so my run-through turned into button mashing. And the game is another case against voice acting, I found the banter cringy.

Glad they made a demo available though! Coming to the same conclusion again: FF is not for me.

No offense, but I wouldn't want Nintendo to fully outsource a Zelda game again. Other teams might be talented, but Zelda games have a unique feel that needs to come from the core team. They've passed their vision down from generation to generation, and one of Nintendo's own team needs to be in charge.

If the user-reported 14 frames were never real and Nintendo in fact only brought it down from 6 to 4-5 frames, that's not "greatly improved", just somewhat. I'm going to check it out though, in its original state WW was shockingly slow on Switch 2 and made me cancel NSO immediately.

"Myles & More"
Frequent-chatter program!

@Pillowpants Well it was 18 years if you only count the FPS parts. In between we got Other M and Dread, which were both great.

@teo_o I'm not a Smash player, but my impression is that it's a very idiosyncatic game. You can kinda explain what makes a Zelda game, but Smash - it's for those who love it, and the rest looks on, puzzled. Hard to hand a series like that to someone new without losing the magic.

He seems to have done it again with Kirby Air Riders. First: controls always have to be weird for him. Why do you attack enemies by waggling the same stick you're trying to precisely control your vehicle with? Why is there so much chaos and explosion? Why is everybody smashing into the walls at every corner with no consequences, like you would never do in a racing game? I don't know how to play this game, and that's exactly how I came away from trying Smash.

Ok so of these I'm likely to get
(the one's I'll definitely buy in bold) :

• Final Fantasy Intergrade (not a fan yet but I've wanted to try the most popular FF for a while)
• Mario Tennis (needs a strong single player mode for me)
• 007
• Mario Wonder DLC
• Yoshi (if it's made by a good developer, I don't trust Good-Feel anymore)
• Indiana Jones
• Professor Layton (looking forward to a more elaborate Layton game)
• Elliot (on my radar)
• Splatoon Raiders (Splatoon is not for me, but a singleplayer adventure spinoff might be)

That's a lot, more than I was expecting!

Kirby Star-Crossed, most likely. Might get Terminator - I wasn't going to (not immediately) because of its brevity, but after watching the enthusiastic Digital Foundry review I am hyped again. Oh and Wario World! I always wondered what that game was like. Massively turned off by the general input lag with the NSO GC emulation though.

Next week: finally opening Metroid 4 (waiting to play with a friend) and after that Hyrule Warriors (waiting to play with a different friend).

Not sure this (“the team is disbanding soon, that’s it”) is a great promotional message for a just released game, it sounds kinda down. Funny how Nintendo let him communicate however he wants, in a non-corporate way.

A bit cheesy, admitted. Cheesier than the recent play demo video. But then again, it's Bond, it was always going to be cheesy.