NotoriousWhiz

I find that the sprite graphics are a tad blurry when docked so I play exclusively handheld with this one. It's a solid game with a great narrative. It really is hard to put this one down. I'm hoping I'm near finishing it because there are so many different paths that I want to explore for a second play through.

I'm going physical and digital for this bad boy.

@SteamEngenius As is, I don't feel the service is overpriced. It would absolutely be nice if you could buy anything instead of renting but as mentioned earlier there are lots of other rental services that cost far more money. The value gain from the service is also increasing rapidly. It'll be interesting to see where it's at 12 months from now. Personally I'm holding out for two things:

• Quality 3rd party N64 games (or Diddy King racing)
• The N64 Switch controller to be in back in stock for MSRP.

@NotSoCryptic Balan Wonderworld. Huge miss.

Real talk, I might buy physical AND digital for this one.

@John_Deacon Trials of mana was everything the secret of mana remake should have been fun. Fun combat, great quality of life improvements. Poor voice acting, but you can change it to Japanese if it bothers you too much.

@Mando44646 Not Elden Rings (Bandai Namco)?

@Yosher @Moonlessky

The expansion pak is definitely not worth it for the Mario Kart DLC alone. But this is probably just the beginning. We've got 2 DLCs included with the expansion pak within its first 4 months. If they maintain this pace there could be 6 DLC packs included for the first year (and also the n64 games which is the main point of the expansion pak). I would definitely prefer buying over subscribing, but if the value is there, then I'm open to it.

@MS7000 People rent houses because the cost of ownership is too high for them. I think that's a great analogy that also covers ownership of video games. People rent because of the value. Same deal with Netflix and other subscription services. However, the ability to own should never be removed.

@Specter_of-the_OLED I don't recall any timer limitations in trials of mana. I do remember them existing in Bravely Default which was still pretty good.

A standard Fire emblem in the same year as advanced wars and triangle strategy and frontier mission may have been a bit too much.

Overall, this direct was great and really makes me think the Switch was made just for me lol.

Super excited for:
Nintendo Switch sports
Live a live
Replaying Earthbound
Mario Strikers
Mario Kart DLC
Xenoblade 3

And was already looking forward to
Triangle Strategy
Kirby
Splatoon 3

Also, I've been reminded that I still need to finish Xenoblade 2.

@NintendoJunkie I played Castle Crashers to death back when it initially launched. I probably unlocked at least 10 characters. Never made it past hard mode though because progression required never touching the ground or dying by the swarm of meat sponges.

When replaying Castle Crashers recently, it just didn't really recapture the excitement I felt when I played it when it first launched. I can replay other beat em ups no problem. Even clearly dated ones like Final Fight or Streets of Rage.

I think my personal favorite currently is Fight N Rage. Now that one has a truly fun and in depth combo system. Plus the different AI tactics that the enemy uses requires you to always be thinking and not just mashing.

@NintendoJunkie eh. I'll withhold judgment until I've tried the demo. As far as castle crashers, B + Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y... is only fun for so long.

@NintendoJunkie castle crashers has aged terribly.

I guess I might do myself an injustice then. No plans on buying the 1st or 2nd unless there is a nice sale.

@CharlieGirl 😭

@Mark-number-12 The Xbox division is not the same as it was 20 years ago. They used to be very consumer unfriendly. That has changed in recent years. Activision has been pretty terrible for awhile. There is a much higher probability of Activision producing more than just annual CoD games under Microsoft.

@UltimateOtaku91 Microsoft hasn't taken any games from Nintendo (recently lol). And recently, they've given Nintendo most of their Non-AAA exclusives (luckys tale, Orí, cup head, etc). They allowed Nintendo to have Banjo in smash and on their overpriced NSO service. So no, Microsoft and Nintendo have actually been playing nicely lately.

Microsoft has been withholding games from Sony. And thats likely because of all the money Sony spends to keep games off of Xbox via timed exclusivity (that seems to keep getting renewed in the case of FF7R) It is to be determined whether or not Microsoft will also withhold games from Sony with this acquisition, but I suspect that any future games under Activision that can support the Switch will probably support the Switch.

@Hav @CharlieGirl Yall are making me nervous about replaying DK64 (eventually).

@Spiders Lol. I appreciate the effort you went through to find that.

@Bobb The mana characters weren't that eggly. Not even on Legend of Mana.

@link3710 didn't realize that was a change. Never beat Banjo Kazooie on the N64, but I did play it. I finished it on 360. Reappearing notes would probably drive me bonkers. Though I don't recall dying often.

@Curator They've definitely cemented themselves. As to what? We'll have to wait until next season.

@Spiders Yeah, I bet the market share of all those other ones (combined) are not even close to Windows OS.

@-wc- Windows is made by Microsoft and is pretty much a monopoly.

Bought Mario Maker 2 literally earlier this week. =(

Does it have touch screen support for menus and building?

Reminds me when I saw t shirts on sale for 95% off. The "original" price was $150. Lol.

@Deepdoop Check out wargroove. It's great and is very similar to advance wars in terms of gameplay.

Don't care about matchmaking due to the jank nature of the games. I'm fine just playing with friends. Day one (or soon after) if it ever sees the light of the day.

The nice thing about back then is that you didn't have to fight with bots. Only other people. Made the situation a lot more fair.

Hades, game of the generation. Probably.

My top game was Hades. But had this "year in review" actually came out after the end of the year, it would have been Monster Rancher 1 + 2 DX. Easily. Holy crap I'm addicted to managing my monsters.

@bimboliquido I said what I said lol. What were the last few games he created? Would you expect his recent release to more resemble his older accomplishments or his more recent ones?

From the creator of Balan Wonderworld... Hard pass...

@IronMan30 Diddy Kong Racing was the GOAT.

As I think about it, I think I just prefer Donkey Kong games over Mario games.

Diddy Kong Racing over Mario Kart 64
Donkey Kong Country over Super Mario World
Donkey Kong 64 over Super Mario 64
Donkey Kong Country Returns over New Super Mario Bros.

If we ever get another 3d Donkey Kong game, I wonder how it would stack against a 3d Mario game.

My most played game was Hades at 57 hours this year (with an 8 hour day back in January, no clue how I managed that with a family lol).

Runner ups were Smash bros (31 hours) and Sonic Genesis Collection (23 hours)

At our family gatherings, we rotate in and out on Go Vacation. We also try to do a Mario Party session sometimes with multiple people sharing a single character (depending on the amount of interest).

And then when the casuals move on to other things, I've got some hardcore family members that love to tear me apart in Smash or we play other games like Fight N Rage, <insert random beat em up>, or some other obscure multiplayer game (most recently we did some wrestling game I forget the name of).

Oh, and we did Crawl a couple times. That game was pretty good fun. I've got this one cousin that buys all kind of random indies, and usually we play one or more of them when we do family gatherings.

Goldeneye would need a remaster where they added dual stick with optional gyro aiming. Everything else can remain as is.

@NEStalgia they did say they use mostly all new components (different components than what comes with the vanilla joycon). Maybe that's a factor in their reduced drift rates.

@Kienda Yall bout to make me sign up for Hulu to watch the show again lol

@Mando44646 @Travisemo007 @Franklin I really liked the Monster rancher animated show. I think it was a lot better than Pokémon and about on par with Digimon.

I wonder how long these balance updates will continue.

Wait. Why is runner2 not on the Switch?

@zapswitch If I recall correctly, there was only one 3rd party dock that was bricking Switches. I've been using 3 different 3rd party docks for the past 3 years with no issue. I have 4 docks in my house. 2 of them are 3rd party and I have a friend whom I frequently visit that also has a 3rd party dock.

@Longondo I agree. It needs to be big enough to replace going to the gym.

@EliGamerX The genesis version is my favorite. Still can't beat it though.

Picked up Kirby Star Allies for the kids along with Super Monkey Ball. Xenoblade Chronicles is tempting but I still am working through Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (plus at least 3 or 4 other JRPGs) and it is likely to be at least a year before I even have time for Xenoblade Chronicles. Maybe it'll be on sale again this time next year?

Disappointed that Yoshi's Crafted World wasn't on sale. The wait continues...

@GannonBanned PS4 isn't even close to outselling PS5.

@ModdedInkling the vocal group on the internet is often a very small percentage of actual consumers. You can't assume the people complaining online are the same ones buying the stuff.