NintendoWife

Well put, I have to agree that they didn’t handle this too well. Even my enthusiasm got a little damper, I normally consider Nintendo a shining exception within the industry. More artistic in their mindset than all the others.

At the same time people are being overly dramatic right now. It’s childish to accuse Nintendo of cynism and “losing their magic” and “only caring about the shareholders”. That’s still to be judged by their art, which has been very strong over the past decade.

My guess is they knew they’d have to raise prices and make some unwelcome changes eventually, so they decided to use the (positive) opportunity of a launch to get it over with.

@Ulysses Urgh, you're right. Only the BOTW & TOTK videos mention the bundle with NSO+EP. Apologies for spreading misinformation.

It kinda makes sense and aligns with the differentiation: All other "Switch 2 Edition" titles we've seen so far are more substantial upgrades. In the cases of Mario Party and Kirby they even added to the game names ("+ Jamboree TV", "+ Star-Crossed World"). Not with Prime 4 though, so the confusion remains.

Wow this is way more convoluted than usual from Nintendo. Even the outrage about the Mario Kart World pricing seems partially down to communication... They didn't communicate that MKW's very high price is not the new norm. Didn't give an explanation either. What did they think was going to happen if they jump from 60€ to 90€ without a comment?

OK I just watched the Nintendo treehouse Mario Kart World footage and the game looks awesome. I had my worries but now I'm hyped again & glad I already preordered

@SabreLevant I wasn't assuming, I went by what the Nintendo Direct said about the various games in question.

• Prime 4 seems much improved, beyond merely unlocking settings. Take the mouse / hybrid controls and how they seamlessly switch. That stuff takes work to develop and get right.
• Kirby is getting a whole new campaign
• Zelda BOTW & TOTK - yeah these are close to a mere "high settings" unlock. But I still expect there to be a lot of tweaking and testing involved, cause unlike an unofficial emulator community Nintendo has a responsibilty, it needs to be bug free and perfect. And these games are big.

Hmm. I bought it as a download for Wii U. Can't be bothered to set up the Wii U anymore tbh. At my studio I have a CRT with a Wii and the GC original game.

I didn't like the bloomy lighting of WWHD, but I don't like the 4:3 aspect ratio of the original either. Don't mind the OG Triforce quest at all.

Dunno. I would probably have bought the game again for Switch 2. >10 years usually means my memory is distant enough to replay old Zelda games, I just love them. What would be really big (and at some point Nintendo will just have to do it) would be full-blown remakes of OoT and MM. With modern day production values.

Generally people here need to calm down a bit. This stuff is not merely "auto upscaled", the enhancements cause Nintendo work and cost them money. Let's say the upgrade price 15€ per game. Economy is nearing the point where that's the price of a pizza, much as I hate it. Would I pay the price of a pizza to eventually replay BOTW with glorious visuals? Sure I would.

@LEGEND_MARIOID Then you get the S2 upgrade to your game for free. I suppose it only remains playable while your subscription is active though.

@RubyCarbuncle It was in the Direct: Owners of the S1 game only need to pay a small upgrade fee. And if you have a subscription (the more expensive of the two tiers) the S2 upgrades are included with no additional cost.

There's one aspect that's potentially weird about this solution though: So the game only turns into a S2 game after you download the upgrade. Which means that sometime in the future, when the servers are long down, your S2 game box only actually contains a S1 game.

@RubyCarbuncle But that's exactly what they do, no? You can buy the Switch 1 version (or you already own it anyway) and later get the S2 upgrade for some 15-20€.

I don't know enough yet about this game, but I was aware it was a big and ambitious one. Gotta ask my friend if it was fun, I remember he said it was a bit more violent than he'd have liked. But let's see, I applaud the developer for their support of the platform!

Not smart to include the two Zelda games. They are both winners, but not new, so were never going to get a meaningful number of votes.

That detail is actually ok no?

Hmm I don't mind I think.

I do agree that it all seems a bit hard to understand.

"One fantastic aspect of Drag x Drive is that it's a showcase for underrepresented disability sports"

That was my thought as well, really cool how they just casually did this without making any fuss about that aspect.

And great to hear (other outlets said the same) that it works very well. I agree on the bland / jarring aesthetic though. They probably decided not to go for a realistic and human appearance early on.

@GravyThief Haha, Double Dash is my favourite as well...

I guess it was inevitable that they'd continue to go in that direction, if you look at the success of MK8. And MK8 was not bad at all overall, but those MK Tour courses they added later... who cares about a single one of them. If you don't get to play identical laps within a race the gameplay doesn't really work anymore. Racing games are too fast by definition, it's kind of the point that you can't get stuff perfect on the first lap. But that corner you botched presents your challenge for the second lap and so on. I'm a bit baffled that Nintendo would throw that principle away, I bet Miyamoto wouldn't have.

And the wide tracks... probably catering to the casual players. Makes MK more about mayhem and less about driving.

This is great, and the rumored upgrade prices are fine as well. If anything I wish they would have added new content like they did with the Kirby game, because as they are BOTW and TOTK still feel too recent to revisit. I'll wait a few more years.

But generally it's such a smart move. These are milestone games, why not give them sales potential for another generation? It doesn't make sense to cut off a game's life when all it needs is a slight makeover. It's probably based on their lessons with the Wii U ports and how well those did on Switch.

I dislike the MK Tour ‘lap system’, it defeats one fundamental principle of a racing game: Memorizing the course and improving with each repeated lap. The continuous courses just keep you reacting, and the arbitrary (floating) barriers they like to use are a very cheap design too.

The other point you mention sounds equally worrying: Huge roaster, wide tracks. Wide tracks are no fun for racing, where’s the thrill when you’re basically driving on a parking lot?

Ok that sounds good & reasonable.

The Switch 2 box design is so unappealing that I honestly started thinking this is part of their attempt at moving people over to digital. That and the prices.

Okay. How about improving the old games? Better frame rate, resolution, widescreen?

Why don’t you add the European price, which is: 89€.

@Koda1000 I had the feeling that's intentional, to enhance the impression of a solid red 'object'.

Either way, I'm not a fan either, it's too dominant over the artwork

Yeah I might wait a bit, but in 2 years BOTW will be 10 years old, and I'll be ready to play it again. I'm currently finishing Skyward Sword HD and it was fresh again. Can't wait to see BOTW in 4K HDR!

The one third party title I was missing was Indiana Jones.

Impressive. Will play.

The one detail on the box I don't like is the 89 followed by a € sign

The best way to handle this. I knew it!

Fantastic, I was hoping for this one! Folks it's been a while since we had a numbered main entry of Street Fighter on a Nintendo system 🥲

Ok so, the first game I didn't finish, for the second I had a good friend over and eventually it became quite fun. Dumb but fun. This looks much improved still, might even hold the framerate in the double digits.

I have never played one of their games and am not even sure they're for me, but this looks massive. Exciting!

Looks super! Another one I'll get. There was like 10 games in that unveiling that I want to play, that's a very high yield from a Direct.

@Koda1000 Why? What if their visual point is to have solid red bar on top of the Switch 2 boxes, to make them stand out?

Looks amazing. And interesting that, instead of unveiling the next 3D Mario already, they used the launch window spotlight to give another IP the AAA treatment. Smart.

One tiny detail I thought was worrying: DK seems to constantly grunt throughout the game. That mixed with the neverending explosions could get a bit tiring.

That's some odd requirements - you'd think they'd use this to incentivize people to buy subscriptions and such. But instead you need to have been a member for the past 2 years. I wasn't. There's not a lot you can do about that right now 🫠

Hmm. I thought the presentation was awesome. In my mind I was buying lots of games. But the prices brought me back to the inflation / recession reality we're living in MK World is 90€ in Europe, that's a 50% increase over the 60€ for a Switch game. That's too high.

My thought throughout watching the trailer was: I love this company. It feels like they got this right again.

Haven't seen the prices yet, apparently there's problems there. But other than that that's a super compelling launch.

@gcunit Dad of the year 🏆 XD

I'm way more excited than I should be at my age! Just imagine, for the next months (or rather years) we'll have constant news on AAA Nintendo games... 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash, AC, many more. It's been a while!

@Poco_Lypso Ah ok. Well I’m not a collector but I would count an official physical bundle as “just as collectible” as the separate entries. But I hear you.

@Nintendolife Can we have a Majora's Mask timer for the remaining waiting time?

Right on, do your thing!

@EarthboundBenjy Yeah I've played 2 chapters of Live-A-Live if I remember corrently, it's fun

Uh-Oh. I’m afraid it’s very much a “fanbase” type of game, and thus, front loaded.

@Poco_Lypso But why? This equals a good discount and gives S-E a fresh release to promote. A mere discount on the separate games wouldn’t do much at this point, haven’t they gone down in price anyway?

As for the games, I haven’t played much of Pt II yet I must admit. Not because it’s not great, but these games are quite long and my spare time budget isn’t what it used to be when Pt 1 came out. Live a Live is also staring at me from the shelf.

Too bad I already have both of them. That’s really cool of S-E!

That reminds me of how they condensed LOTR into just 3 movies when they could have (in hindsight) easily made it 6. And how they in turn made the Hobbit 3 movies when it should have been just one 😝

• specs and date
• new mainline 3D Mario
• something Zelda, I'll take anything: From all-new to spin-off to GBC & GBA remakes (in the LA engine) to full-blown N64 remakes to GC remaster re-releases
• Mario Kart
• other cool new entries of existing series: Famicom Detective Club, a Kirby & the Forgotten Land follow-up, Paper Mario, ...
• resurrections of dormant IP or leftfield titles: Mother, Kid Icarus, F-Zero, Eternal Darkness, Star Tropics, Captain Rainbow, Mario Paint...
• third parties: I'd really like the new Indiana Jones, Shenmue 1-3, Street Fighter VI would be nice, GTA 6 too 😶‍🌫️
• and of course I hope for lots more, even if it's games I don't personally care for, cause that means success and a big ecosystem and general draw to the platform!

If I can't preorder one I'm confident I can simply get one at the shop on launch day. It has never been as much of an issue over here in Germany as it regularly seems to be in the US.

Wow actually none of them. I respect Metroid Prime 4 which is certainly going to be a great game. But it does look true to the Prime formula (FPS, navigating a confusing map by scanning every object) which I had to recognize just isn’t for me.

Other than that - literally nothing. No big deal though, I have a bit of a back catalog still, and after next week we’ll have plenty to be excited about.

Somehow I still can’t see this ending well, at least not for my taste. I hope they know what they are doing. It’s safe to say Nintendo are aiming at a super broad / mainstream audience with their movie projects which basically necessitates a very generic approach.

@MrYuzhai I like the Ghibli idea of course, but do they carry out movie jobs for outside companies? I’ve seen like three Ghibli movies and they were all way too weird and idiosyncratic to be Zelda themed.