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Some people called Nintendo’s customer support and according to them it’s a temporary issue on Nintendo’s end and that they can’t give a time as to when it will be fixed. I have no idea how this happens considering Nintendo probably hasn’t touched the Wii or its servers since the Wii Shop Channel shut down in 2019.

These remixes sound absolutely fantastic. I appreciate how they even remixed the music for Mario Kart Tour tracks when they could’ve just left them as is and no one would’ve batted an eyelid. They don’t sound super different but the use of real instruments instead of midi tracks makes a world of difference and all these arrangements stay true to their originals while sounding fresh. It’s nice to hear they re-did the music given the controversy about a lot of the assets being pulled from Tour with few updates.

I always thought this was a strange move as part of the Tegra deal, to bring Nintendo-published Wii exclusives to a non-Nintendo platform, but also only to a select region. These ports seemed to be decent upscalings and I’m surprised they seem to have fallen flat commercially.

A lot of people have been waiting for this sequel for over a decade now so I really hope those lucky fans who have early access don’t spoil the entire thing before release.

In a time when very few licensed games release each year, it’s strange that two got announced in one day.

I thought this game already had an Ultimate Edition…

@Alex79uk Maybe it is a slight stretch, but I do think the 2K games look miles closer to their counterparts on other platforms than FIFA does. The resolutions and small details here and there do look worse, but they come much closer than you’d expect and they’re great ports with effort put in to give Switch players a somewhat comparable experience unlike FIFA’s janky, archaic Ignite engine with modes and content stripped out.

@anoyonmus That’s a completely separate topic and anything is better than the Ignite engine in my opinion. The Switch versions are far inferior to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, when the console can handle much more (NBA 2K).

The Ignite engine honestly looks and feels ancient with extremely janky animations and some models that look like they were ripped straight from an N64 game.

It’s irritating that they don’t even add extremely basic Quality of Life features such as suggested subs, where the game (on other platforms) lets you make a sub on a suggested tired player at the press of a button mid-match, rather than pausing the game and manually doing so.

It genuinely feels like an insult to a large and valuable install base with no effort whatsoever. The Switch has its hardware limitations definitely, but it can handle much more than this and much smoother animations (just look at NBA 2K’s almost identical graphics and modes to PS4 besides framerate). They never tried to create a simulation which uses all of the hardware power on offer. it was just pure laziness of them to call FIFA’s engine a “custom build” on Switch, when it is identical to the dated Xbox 360 and PS3 versions they stopped releasing a few years ago.

The Frostbite engine is now on Switch too with PvZ and no attempt was made to use an engine that another developer optimised for the FIFA team. So many missing modes and features with just these poor and overpriced roster updates now. It’s a joke and sums up EA perfectly.

@John_Koshiro It is in a way because Transformed is a far superior game to TSR in my opinion and deserves to be on modern platforms.

But the reason TSR is getting this anniversary edition is because they are literally taking unsold physical copies of the two year old TSR (already on modern platforms) and repackaging it in a special box with an artbook.

For Transformed, they would have to put in substantially more effort to remaster elements of the game and port a game that isn’t on these platforms yet. It is odd that they are doing this though and I would love Transformed on Switch.

@Dogorilla I know, it was something so quirky and unique that only Nintendo could have created it.

I enjoyed building the kits and playing with them at first, but the earlier kits were lacking in meaningful gameplay content once they were constructed, which deterred many consumers (along with the high price of the first three) from buying further kits.

It felt like by the time Nintendo learned from it and developed multiple game modes for each Toy-Con and sold Toy-Con in smaller individual sets for reduced prices, it was too late to catch the attention of the market and it faded away. I especially enjoyed the VR kit.

@roboshort I’m talking about docked and handheld resolutions and improved performance.

I was just thinking about the whole Switch Pro idea this morning and it happens! I had a feeling that if they were ever going to announce it, it would be in early to mid July when the Switch Lite was announced in 2019.

The new OLED screen and wide kickstand look cool, as well as the new colour scheme for the dock, but I’m concerned about the lack of resolution and performance upgrades in the trailer, so I’m guessing the additions in the trailer are all of the ones made.

Still excited to get it though: what is new is great but would’ve killed for 4K dock output and 1080p handheld resolution and I would’ve paid more for both easily.

Looks like it could be a fairly decent multiplayer game if executed better, but I vividly remember the E3 Direct footage having an abysmal framerate, to the point where it looked unplayable: if there were any issues with the online performance, it would be even worse. The high player count could cause this, but I think it’s poor optimisation and I knew the game would launch like this because it released only days after the Switch version was shown at E3.

@theflowergarden Yeah I knew it was a dodgeball game and not a hero shooter, I just meant the aesthetics, character designs and the fact it is a team-based multiplayer game reminded me of the genre, although it obviously isn’t with the dodgeballs and everything. I just didn’t know whether it was worth trying, if the quality of the game was high and if there was any strategy to the gameplay beyond just throwing dodgeballs other players. It sounds pretty decent from what you’ve said, so maybe I’ll give it a shot.

@ERIC_MACK That’s true and the new quick sail option really helped with traversing the Great Sea at a much quicker pace, as well as a beautiful lighting engine. But the opening of TP was honestly a slog of basic and unskippable tutorials and it took the game around 2 hours to actually begin and become compelling. Many complained about the opening even back in 2006 and despite them reducing the tears of light quest to a more tolerable size, it remained untouched.

Also yeah, WW and TP both had their Wii U remasters and Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask had 3DS remakes, so it’s nice to see SS receive some love.

Is this game good? I thought it looked like another generic ‘hero shooter’ style online multiplayer game before launch and the CG trailer in the Nintendo Direct in February was obnoxious. Is it anything special and should I try it?

If I’m being honest, as much as I would love and want more Quality of Life fixes and improvements in Skyward Sword HD, the majority of my qualms with this game reside with the developers feeling the need to bloat the package with pointless and repetitive filler content at times in an attempt to make a 30 hour epic, when in reality, a more concise adventure would be more fulfilling and leave a more meaningful lasting impression, considering the space of time between major plot developments.

But Nintendo won’t fix that, just like they didn’t fix the excruciating opening in Twilight Princess HD (and I like that remaster) and they won’t alter and remove entire sections of the experience to remedy these issues of backtracking and the like.

Still looking forward to this though and it feels right to have the last 3D Zelda game without a remaster to finally have one ten years after its release.

@YoungLink64 Thanks mate, appreciate the compliment. I’d love to be able to speak to Sakurai personally because he seems like such a fun and interesting guy, who definitely deserves a long break after one of the most ambitious and large games Nintendo has ever put their name to.

Sakurai’s humour, insight on gaming history and presentation style never fails to entertain. A character that I wasn’t excited for on the whole from a series I respect but haven’t played much of and he presents Kazuya in a way that makes me legitimately look forward to trying out. Mental that the next character will be the last: what a wild ride and we should all be grateful to the development team for their effort and attention to detail on all of the content in SSBU.

Very happy about this. As someone who loves arcade games and is disappointed by the lack of modern arcade games in my area, it’s great to see a more recent 2017 release and an awesome Cruis’n upgrade at that. Really nice to see this getting the physical treatment too.

I enjoyed seeing the creative contraptions of people who actually understood Labo’s Toy-Con Garage in all four kits when they launched and this will be no different, with a greater focus on just making games and better with the lessons included. Wish they had a proper system to upload levels to enjoy these beyond codes though…

I don’t understand why outdated Just Dance games like 2020 don’t have even heavier discounts than $19.99, on the European eShop I still see NBA 2K18 and Just Dance 2018 at MSRP. A bit odd honestly.

While I adore Breath of the Wild and can’t wait for the sequel, I always dreamed that a modern 3D Zelda game or a Twilight Princess remake would look like this and I hope they pursue this advanced art style in the future. This tech demo almost sold me on the Wii U when it didn’t blow me away initially and I wanted this to be a teaser for the next game as it still looks gorgeous today and I couldn’t believe this was possible on Wii U at the time. They also missed an opportunity with Twilight Princess HD as this demo literally used TP Link and TP needed a remake in my opinion, instead of a remaster which still shows the game’s age.

It’s interesting to me how a simple motion-controlled exercise game with a somewhat generic aesthetic (not knocking the game) can be so successful twice in a row with not too much of a unique gimmick like a Balance Board; refreshing to see these types of casual games do well and be supported with content updates.

@johnvboy No worries, I thought your emphasis on the pandemic point I mentioned may have included me as well in your criticism but there’s no confusion because I know we agree.

@johnvboy I agree with all that. The Switch has obviously been tremendously successful since day one and I didn’t say it was the only reason at all: adding a little more fuel to the great fire. But further sales increases to already impressive commercial performances did occur particularly in software but also with consoles during the pandemic and I don’t think ACNH would have sold beyond 20 million units that quickly in a normal situation, though it still would’ve sold like gangbusters. The main reasons for the Switch’s sustained success have been regular releases of compelling software and an innovative way to play with the system’s hybrid format.

@johnvboy I totally agree as I said that the Switch’s sales have been impressively consistent for four years and beyond. The pandemic essentially added a bit more fuel to an already raging fire and software sales grew at an even faster rate as more played at home. Nintendo attracted consumers with an innovative hybrid model and sustained their interest with new bundles, software and the Switch Lite presenting an even more accessible point of entry as a dedicated handheld

Absolutely insane how Nintendo has consistently sustained demand for the Switch for four years and counting. I think the pandemic and the launch of ACNH actually boosted their sales in a weird way and gave the console’s financial success a new lease of life and with regular software and a hopeful Pro on the way, it should continue and surpass the Wii’s sales numbers which many were sceptical about.

I really like Super Mario Maker 2 and I was really looking forward to all of the new course elements being introduced to the game. They did not disappoint from a gameplay perspective and the best levels in Story Mode and online designed levels with and around them beautifully. Story Mode was a really fun single player campaign with a nice variety of courses and mechanics used that also acted as inspiration for your own courses and the best levels and creators online showcased why this concept is executed so well. The charm and creativity of the original is still here and accounted for.

But the course creator in docked mode is an absolute slog to use with bizarre forgettable button commands and difficult to access sub-menus and controlling the interface with an analogue stick is imprecision incarnate and so slow. The course elements also being displayed in a load of wheels while useful in theory and well organised, was a pain to navigate and remember where certain elements were and I would have rather had a more categorised version of the rows of items in the original. I wrestled with it for weeks after launch and leading up to release I held out hope that course design in TV mode would have a clever solution (like a gyro pointer in Captain Toad) to ease the experience but it was a cumbersome pain that left me disappointed especially with none of the game’s updates addressing it. I just gave up on it after a while which killed my anticipation to make levels with all of the new elements and themes. While handheld mode was better, I’d rather use the TV and all of the new sub-menus make the screen real estate claustrophobic and difficult to work with. Definitely a Wii U blockbuster that struggles on Switch.

Not to mention the online multiplayer. I was so hyped for it with ranked and casual modes and having infinite replayability, I felt I’d be playing it all summer long. But in reality I was again let down with one of the worst online gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Gameplay was literally a slideshow and virtually unplayable and I think it set in there and then that NSO was an incredibly primitive and flawed online infrastructure. Such a massive disappointment.

Then the online selection of levels themselves were a mixed bag. Obviously some are troll levels or ones designed by very young children without a grasp of basic level design and spamming as many items and enemies as possible. But the highest-rated courses were fantastic with ingenious ideas and great utilisation of the new and existing elements However, as the game went on the servers became overloaded with these irritating “Refresh” levels, which spam sound effects and visual elements to create a “Zen” experience, and while I’m happy for those who enjoy making and playing them, they are all identical and not fun or interesting to play at all for me. This made it all the more challenging to get around when you consider the unchanged lack of search features with a code system that felt archaic back in 2015 and the fact you can’t search for key words and they didn’t even bother to update it or resurrect the bookmark website was baffling beyond belief. So now all I see online is one type of level I couldn’t care less about with practically no way to find quality levels I haven’t played yet.

Really like the game still but was left disappointed by it in the end and haven’t played in a long time.

To be fair when they uploaded the trailer again this week it was dubbed in Spanish and they added Pac-Man 99 gameplay to the special offers segment and removed the sadly defunct Super Mario Bros. 35. Definitely unnecessary to continually re-upload a mostly identical trailer and maybe it is to reset dislike ratios but they did make minute changes at least this time.

I really enjoyed this game back in the day. It ignored the convoluted gimmicks and arduous narratives of recent 3D entries and doubled down on the core boost formula gameplay that everyone enjoyed in Unleashed’s daytime stages and the wisps as power-ups worked well as they acted as extensions to Sonic’s existing abilities and had stages effectively designed around them, but weren’t mandatory and levels were still fun to complete if you didn’t feel like using them. Incredible level theme variety as well with Dr. Eggman’s Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park being the setting in space.

Not to mention a stellar (no pun intended) orchestrated soundtrack and fantastic visuals for a Wii game. While it was quite short and some of the writing was aimed moreso at children than you would expect, there were enough incentives to replay the stages with unlockable multiplayer stages (you could also play alone), optional collectables in each level that provided access to an awesome reward and best times for speedrunning, and the plot is decent overall and perfectly tolerable and charming enough to see the game through to the end from a story perspective.

I’d love to see this game be appreciated more today and become more widely available with remastered presentation to boot; it wouldn’t be that hard as it holds up well today ten years later and is importantly fun most of all. Now Generations is a game I’m desperate to see on Switch: it wouldn’t even have to be remastered, it’s just so good and it bugs me that the only version that exists on Nintendo platforms is the poor 3DS game.

@nessisonett As good as some of the cosmetics in this game are and as great as your idea is, I doubt the Mario Kart Tour developers would take such a deep cut from Mario's history (and they sure love selling slight Shy Guy variations as new characters).

I can’t understand how this great studio went so far with Yo-Kai Watch on 3DS in the west. I completely get why they would localise the first game because it was a cultural phenomenon in Japan and they are pretty good RPGs with interesting character designs but I still see the first game on online game retailers for less than £5 and Argos has cleared most of their 3DS games including Mario Kart 7 and 3D Land and they can’t get rid of it now at the price of £0.99 (seriously go and check).

So they obviously either produced far too many physical copies or it flopped tremendously. They then released the sequel quickly after with two versions (which only Pokemon can get away with as they invented that release model and people are used to it) when the franchise wasn’t popular enough in the west to support it and launched a third version less than a year later in Europe which didn’t add nearly enough content to warrant a third release.

They released Blasters in two versions when the main series was already unpopular and the 3DS was on its way out so localising a spin-off was a poor choice. Then bringing over the third game without marketing it at all at the end of the system’s life with barely any physical copies produced at all and being a scalper’s paradise to the small base of fans who couldn’t get a hold of one was stupid all around. Yet they were simultaneously smart enough to ditch the three version approach and combine the contents of the three Japanese versions into one package: baffling stuff. They pretty much hung their hat on the franchise and mass-produced as much merchandise and as manysequels as possible with an untested IP in the west and while you can respect their confidence, it was a risk that didn’t pay off in the end.

It’s a shame to see their struggles with home console development now as I loved Fantasy Life and Professor Layton and it seems they can’t release or localise much of anything independently: this football game probably won’t ever see the light of day which is a shame with a meaty delay to 2023: such a talented developer. I thought they merged with Comcept who developed Mighty no. 9 to continue that series and port it to handhelds which never happened, maybe that did further damage.

I think that with the absence of E3 last year, this was one of the closest things we had to it and after being announced months in advance it got people’s hopes up.

I appreciate the effort behind it with the state of the pandemic-stricken world we were (and still are) experiencing, but most of its promised big reveals were either leaked beforehand, uninteresting or spread across such a long period of time that I didn’t care unfortunately.

Crash 4 was probably the biggest reveal this one had and it was leaked days before Summer Games Fest happened and I surmise that I speak for most when I say that we tuned in for Crash 4 at the start of that day’s show and then didn’t care to keep watching; too much time with such minimal excitement. But the concept was interesting and its broader focus on developers big and small that isn’t seen as frequently with events like E3 was admirable.

I hope it will be better this year with some more engaging announcements over a smaller time span and hopefully there will be some demos available here and there online to retain the feeling of player interactivity at events like E3 beyond the press conference segments.

@anoyonmus It’s basically an FPS in a sci-fi world with some similarities to Fallout (probably because the Obsidian who developed this game also made New Vegas). It’s also an open world game with a focus on atmosphere, exploring unique alien planets and story and your choices impact upon the narrative and game world, including the crew you build and characters you become involved with. The game is lengthy if you fancy it and has a lot of quests to do and upgrades you can earn over the course of the game.

“If I had to choose, I’d say I like Pyra better...”
“Of course, we’re talking strictly about combat ability.”
“Yes, I think it would be Pyra...”
“As a fighter, of course.”

Sakurai, 2021.

@Arkay Yeah, but they at least included new arrangements of the popular minigame themes from the original game.

What a great presentation. Sakurai is an absolute legend with a great sense of humour and an invaluable insight on the industry and life in general. I’m sure he could hype me up for buying life insurance. Steve is shockingly true to the game and the sheer amount of work exerted by the whole development team is a sight to behold. I can’t wait.

Does it include the removed sound effect from Super Mario 64 that Nintendo said “So long” to? 😉

I adore all three games in this collection as they’re very close to my heart and having them all in one collection on Nintendo’s current flagship system is fantastic.

On the visual side, I thoroughly appreciate what they did to make these games look sharper and crisper, although it would’ve been amazing if they went the extra mile with bonus features, graphical enhancements and small little details that could’ve been addressed, such as Super Mario 64 not being in widescreen and other improvements here and there. Mario 64 in general could’ve received more attention: it kind of reminds me of the XBLA port of Banjo-Kazooie, a solid upscaling that still appears dated visually: I love the game and all but it seems Nintendo focused on it the least out of the trio included in the collection.

I’m also disappointed that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is not included or even being acknowledged by Nintendo at all in their anniversary celebrations: it wasn’t included in 3D All-Stars when they could’ve given it the exact same treatment as Galaxy considering they run on the same engine and UI and all and I haven’t even seen them mention the game in the Direct sizzle reel or anywhere else. As one of my favourite games of all time, that kind of stings.

As an anniversary collection, while Nintendo could’ve easily put more effort into this one, it’s hard to argue with three phenomenal platformers in a single collection. But the limited time availability is the absolute pits. I get anniversary merchandise as they don’t want that stock on their hands in a few years time, but a landmark release like this makes no sense logically or business-wise for Nintendo’s pockets. The scalpers will end up making more profit than Nintendo themselves in the long run.

I liken Nintendo’s approach here to eating a lot of sugar rather than carbohydrates if you need a boost of energy. Sugar will give you an enormous boost and you feel like you can accomplish anything when you eat large amounts of it: but that’s only for a brief time and you feel drained shortly after. With carbs, sure you don’t feel the immediate effects very quickly, but a gradual, healthy burst of energy is all you need and those kinds of foods will last you longer. The same is true with 3D All-Stars here. The sales Nintendo will make will be astronomical for 6 months due to limited availability, but that kind of success isn’t healthy in the long term and once the game is unavailable, the scalpers will generate profits beyond what Nintendo will make. Keeping it on sale permanently will see a gradual, less sudden rate of sales that is substantial to consistently make Nintendo money for years to come. As much as I love Nintendo, they befuddle me some times...

Is it coming to the Wii? I feel they wouldn’t say there was a Wii version in a Nintendo Direct presentation. Ubisoft would either announce it at E3 and in trailers on Nintendo’s YouTube channel, they’d show the box art at the end alongside the Switch version. They showed the past few Just Dance games in Directs and only mentioned the Switch versions when Wii versions were also available

Who knows? There’s a small chance as the Wii version was the second highest-selling version last year and it outsold the PS4 and Xbox One versions combined at launch and we know Ubisoft likes moolah and being the last publisher standing on abandoned platforms.

@Jaguar_Wong It actually didn’t sell out until last week. For some reason the Vblank store stated that it was sold out pretty much instantly but if you revisited the page around ten minutes later it became available to buy alongside Retro City Rampage DX and it took an extremely long time to sell out for a limited release. In fact, Retro City Rampage DX is still available and there are no notifications about limited stock like Shakedown Hawaii had for the past few weeks or so, possibly due to the lack of notice regarding an an announcement on that one, so you can still purchase it if you’re interested.

The eShop needs flourishes of personality with music and more polished and aesthetically pleasing layouts and sound effects.

Say what you want about the Wii U and it’s somewhat sluggish speeds when navigating menus, but the eShop is so underrated, having some of the most catchy and charming musical arrangements to ever grace a digital storefront and a sleek and organised, yet vibrant design that reeks of Nintendo cheer. There were all kinds of categories, genres, series and games listed in a clear and concise manner. The same goes for the 3DS eShop as well: I’d even argue that the overall user experience on the 3DS eShop is more positive than on Switch.

The Switch eShop in comparison feels like a buggy webpage. Despite the reasoning Miyamoto gave about the Switch OS not having music or many built-in applications because of the necessity to provide a snappy user experience, the eShop is still slow and pages and game icons take an eternity to load, so music wouldn’t hurt: I wouldn’t even mind if they ported the Wii Shop Channel music or Wii U and 3DS eShop music at this point. It just feels lifeless and incomplete without music, or proper sorting options and categorisation.

We also need folders, themes and more charm and customisation: after all, the Switch is part handheld: which is typically a personal device you would want to make your own.

Beautiful. I can’t wait to read more about the legacy of this amazing man.

@Victorsigg Lego city definitely. It’s the most unique lego game ever with a hilarious story, open world and lots of unlockables and content. Marvel’s good too, but I’d say it’s just another lego game while lego city is so special.

Will Just Dance 2021 be on the Wii? This is life’s most pressing question at the moment and the sole reason to pay attention to this presentation.

R.I.P Iwata-san. A legend who will live eternally in our hearts forever.

@gcunit I’m not stigmatising because a stigma relating to smash fans and the series in general is the last thing I want.

What I meant was that it’s probably inevitable for select outsiders to Smash and Nintendo in general to look at the entire community (professional and otherwise) and just see a horde of predators and this could be lucrative material for those who abhor Smash to turn others against it.

Smash is one of my favourite series of all time and it would be completely awful if recently discovered scum in the fanbase would ruin the game for so many genuine people who innocently enjoy it. I fear that such a huge exodus of professional players in the space of a few days for reasons such as sexual misconduct, could forever change the perception of the whole series in the minds of the more easily-influenced.

I’m not a participant. I would hate for anything to be held against this legendary series that I adore all because of a swarm of disgusting predators.

@gcunit Many victims have stepped forward to share their stories of abuse at the hands of many professional smash players. These have varied from harassment, sexual assault and more; the community has effectively imploded with allegations and confessions left and right and many professional players leaving for good.

Let’s just say that vocally and visibly enjoying the game is going to carry with it an impenetrable stigma for quite some time.

I’m so proud of the victims for mustering the courage to speak out about their traumatic experiences and it’s sickening to think that these abusers were allowed to amass so much fame and affinity from fans while they were hurting innocent people, but the past few days have been difficult for many...