Ogbert

@TimelessJubilee "It was no MK8, that's for sure."

No Mario Kart 8, or no Mario Kart 8 Deluxe + DLC?

People forget MK8 had a small fraction of the final MK8D+DLC content when it launched. 4 new cups and 4 classic, then there was a big paid DLC pack and some small free updates, then a deluxe rerelease that added a couple more small features, then a few more rounds of paid/subscription DLC.

A tough one this week. Well, mostly, Europe’s sucks. I really like NA’s one, but Hitler looming in the background of Japan’s is hilarious! I’m struggling to pick between the two but I think I like NA’s just that bit more.

Lost most of my interest in this when they revealed the cussing monkey that was tonally at odds with the first game.

I lost more interest when they said it was going to be not just open-world, but multiple planets of open world.

I lost further still when they then begged people to make free content for those worlds.

Now Ubisoft is fully embracing the environmental disaster that is generative AI, I'd rather this game just no longer exist. I won't be playing it, even if by some miracle it's ok and not a bloated, sloppy mess.

this looks great! Don't like that UI though. Why those bright outlines on the health draws attention too much and the purple colour isn't neutral enough to work in all the levels. Plus that score box.

Ah well, it's still in dev so hopefully those things will get an upgrade. The rest looks lovely!

Japan by a landslide. Then Europe comfortably in second place. Then NA dragging behind.

The front is meant to look cool and grab your attention, which Japan does in spades and Europe does well. The back is where you get the details of all the games and contents. NA's looks like I'm looking at the back of the box.

Terrible name but the gameplay looks like a smart twist on the genres and quite fun.

Ah yes Roblox, where only the most discerning of players go.

Honestly I’ve seen gen AI used for images and half the time it’s reductive and requires an artist to redo it anyway. I’ve seen it used for scripts and the same happens. I’ve seen it used for code to even worse effects, often making something that technically works but is horribly inefficient and causes problems further down the line.

It does have some uses in some places but it’s generally not helpful, not worth the job losses and certainly not the environmental cost.

The simple fact is we don’t need more media to be churned out. There is already too much new stuff on top of all the older stuff. There is more than anyone can consume in a lifetime. Not to mention none of us can afford it anymore because we’re loosing our jobs to AI and the money is being hoarded by billionaires and multi-millionaires.

So who is it actually benefitting? I heard a good comparison that AI is like cigarettes, we were sold them as a positive, as something we should have, so we invested, then the rug was pulled out and we saw that there is actually only negatives but now we’re co-dependant and need them to function. That’s all these AI pushers want, you to become co-dependant on their new product.

Worst part is when the bubble bursts it’s going to hurt everyone, whether you partook or not this time.

I like the detailing of the Triforce pattern on Zelda’s clothing up close.

It’s hard to tell if they are too clean and new looking right now. Obviously Zelda is a princess and if this is simply before the action takes place she will have nicer clothing. And Link’s does look more durable and ready for action even if it’s not seen it yet.

I’m actually excited to see more! I hope they keep the weird tone of Zelda somehow. I highly doubt we’ll see Tingle but they have to have some of that oddity. Even if it’s just Agitha or someone else less weird.

Will there be Goron? There’s gotta be Bokoblin right? Zora? There’s so much that could go either way.

Oh good to know the port lets it down. I was thinking of getting this on Switch but I’ll go for PS5 then.

Gotta say props to NL for leaving the comments open here but also to the mods for keeping on top of it.

Imagine, in a franchise that literally lets you set wildlife on fire, being upset by a fan-made walk cycle.

Yay Mega Starmie! This is great I really love it when people find something relatable like this, even if it's not the intention. And I'd somehow never seen that French Starmie before, hahaha!

I played the demo… I didn’t not enjoy it, but I’m gonna wait for a discount I think.

It’s beautiful, it’s unique and it’s frantic in a good way. I’m very glad it exists. But I dunno, it’s not super clicking like I need it too for the price. Especially when I have Mario Kart World and Fast Fusion to scratch my racing itch.

Ok so the bike is just Epona and the desert Hyrule Field, kinda lame but a means to an end. But that montage of hokey dialog from the secondary characters was deeply off-putting. I’m still excited for it, but I am actually concerned there will be a bunch of cringe dialog ruining the atmosphere now.

Was hoping the new casting was Danny DeVito as Tingle.

Dichen Lachman feels a good Impa choice though.

Just give me a settings option to turn the sidekick voice down/off. I’ve done it before and I’ll do it again!

I feel like I just went back in time. That sounded like a song from Maid Marian and her Merry Men….but about Kirby.

I kinda loved it!

@SillyG the game. You’re being charged for the game. The piece of software a large team of people worked on for several years to make that you can then play and gain enjoyment from.

You can still get your tiny, bitter-tasting rectangle of plastic too if you want. If that brings you joy too. And with it you are granted the ability to resell, lend, borrow, trade etc as you wish. There’s just also a download required.

Or you can go fully digital, which doesn’t grant you the ability to sell, trade, borrow or lend the game on afterwards (bar some limited digital card functions) and still requires a download.

Those are your choices. Both have pros and cons but ultimately both get you the game, which is what you are paying for.

I wouldn’t be playing with eye tracking anyway, but good to know about the headphones.
I recently played The Midnight Walk on PS5 and headphones were a must for that too!

@SillyG I got to go to Japan just before lockdown with my partner. We rented a place that had a washing machine so that we could bring minimal clothing and had a whole suitcase empty to fill with stuff. We nearly filled it at Skytree alone with the Pokémon Centre and Ghibli Store!

@AllBLK that would be nice, but also just because they’re older doesn’t mean they are inherently worth less. They don’t expire, they’re still great games. And people are clearly ok still paying full price for them or they would give them a permanent reduction. Is it greedy or is it knowing the value of your work?

Only one I would argue for is Splatoon 3 as you’ll get less of the events buying it now vs at launch, though general online and the campaign are still excellent. But I think it would be fair to say that should be reduced now.

It’s fine. I don’t know what the “but very safe” bit is for? I didn’t want something super out there it’s just Yoshi from the games rendered in the style of the movie, it doesn’t need to be anymore than that so I’m not going to criticise it for not being anymore. It’s fine.

@PeterTomlan86 I know a lot of people like it now but The Polar Express flopped on release, noting the character visuals and padded narrative as low points. So that’s why other films are not trying to replicate it’s look and feel.

In terms of Illumination and Galaxy, they are very talented animators and they totally could do those serene moments. Whether or not they will is another thing, and in part down to Nintendo too, who have a big say in the whole thing. But a thing to remember is in the game we can choose to sit and absorb that moment as long as we want, a film has to keep moving.

Personally I’d say it’s best not to expect those moments, then it’s a lovely surprise if they are there. It’s more likely to focus of the sillier, more slapstick aspects of Galaxy, like Yoshi’s tongue grapple, feeding Luma until they explode and be sling-shorted through space. But Rosalina might bring some of those moments in.

I dunno. I’m not a fan of the bike anyway but the pose looks awkward too and all that sand poking on the edge looks really bad to me.

Would have been cooler as Samus popping a wheelie on the bike and scaling it down to fit on the plinth.

This feels too close to launch for me. It’s not even been a full month!

I’m not saying it’s cut content or anything, but regardless it just feels too much. Hold it back a few months and add a few more Mega evos or something.

@BulkSlash if there is one thing the comments in these articles have taught me is that most people seem to want/need a very literal, spelled out image for their covers. And Japan doesn’t always like to do that.
Also most people here are from the NA/EU region or one that got the same cover and nostalgia is one hell of a force.

I prefer Japan’s. I like that the logo is given space if nothing else. Both have equal clutter, but somehow the NA/EU logo positioning makes it worse for me.

I really wish the graphical upgrades just came with using the new, more powerful console. I really don't care about mouse mode or the megaphone, but I would like higher definition graphics.

But that free update? Ooooooh yeah! That's the stuff!

Oh Xbox. You’re part of a 4 Trillion dollar company. You can stop trying to make it a competition and just accept you can’t won’t own everything. Some things will stay exclusive to other systems and that isn’t always a bad thing.

Also, there are still Xbox exclusives.

Also also, you just majorly hiked up the price of GamePass after announcing record profits for it, during the middle of a global cost of living crisis. Stop pretending you’re all about the players and their rights.

To be fair I’ve played this on an Xbox series X and it chugged a little in some of my museums in the latter half of the game. I was kind of hoping by some miracle it would be smoother on Switch 2, but still it’s an excellent game!

I wish we would stop ignoring the environmental issues with AI too. We keep talking about the ethical implications and yes they are important, but the fact this technology is also burning through power and water at an alarming rate is also incredibly worrying. It shouldn't be being left out of the AI conversation the way it is.

But yeah this tracks. I've seen a lot of reports about how fixing all the nonsense AI comes out with is more work. How leaving AI to scan documents instead of just reading them actually results in a lot of missed data. And how when it does work, it just results in even more work being dumped on the human to keep up with it, causing stress and burnout.

We don't need this technology. It adds nothing to our lives and is actively destroying them. Read a book, pick up a paintbrush, talk to a human.

Really hoping Amazon doesn’t mess up my preorder here!

I’ve got a lot of art books and I don’t think many give a lot of insight into design choices outside of “we thought this was the most menacing” or “this one went a little too hard”, so I’m not surprised there.

Can’t wait to dive into all the art! Metroid deserves so much more attention than it’s ever gotten and I’ve yet to play anything with the same feels as the Prime series.

They are very cool and I do want them. I'm sure the quality is there and everything, and the swappable riders is fun. But that price is like, you can have the game or a toy, you can't have both.

For me at least.

Excited for this! Mostly for more Sakurai humour tbh.

Absolum looks amazing, I love the art, but the rogue-like side just puts me off. I've tried a bunch now (Gonner, Hades, Tumbleseed, Peglin, Flinthook, Invisible Inc, Spelunky, Downwell, Vampire Survivors, Enter the Gungeon, Darkest Dungeon, Crypt of the Necrodancer - you can't say I've not tried!) and none have really grabbed me bar Balatro which doesn't really feel like a rogue-like so much as it's just how card games work.

Best of luck to them though! I hope fans of the genre have a great time with it!

I can see the headlines now...
Before launch:
"Next mainline Pokemon to finally have voice acting!"

After launch:
"Fans mad at new Pokemon game bug that causes cutscene VO to play in all the wrong places"

They have enough to fix first.

I’m just here to say I hate that new advert at the top of the screen NL. I’ve not used ad blocker because I know the revenue is important to you but this is an ad too far, it’s literally a third of my phone screen.

Also I voted NA.

It’s a Memetroidvania.

I'm still confused by the demo, it's still super low-res and janky looking (plays beautifully). Is this what the graphical update looks like or did they forget to update the demo?

Where are all the people complaining that this patch is changing the original artistic intent? Surely Curveclaw not responding to Hunter down-stab was how it was meant to be and changing it so that people can do that move on them now is an affront to the dev’s artistic vision?

Sarcasm, for those who couldn’t tell.

Well ‘Be Brave Barb’ and ‘Cato’ just expanded my wish list.

I’ll give Gibbon a +1 too, really nice little game.

@KayFiOS I always like to drift off to the music of Magmoor Caverns.

Oh I'd not even heard of 'Mario & Wario', looking forward to giving that a go!

I used to buy a lot more but cozzy livs innit.

Well I was wrong! I honestly thought there was more chance of it being nothing than invisible Pikmin.

I hope the Rosalina stuff is weird coincidence then. I don’t want Pikmin being part of the Mario universe as well, it’s nice being it’s own thing.

If it's Pikmin it's very confusing with all the Rosalina colours everywhere. The baby even has the same style hair as her (one big quiff at the front and side tufts) and the short is about motherhood and being left alone which are big themes in Rosalina's background. Then the dummy/pacifier lands in the mobile made of stars and orbs and clouds that are very Mario shaped.

I get that it looks like an invisible Pikmin in could be carrying it and there is a blur in one scene that could be a Pikmin. But why would they make them invisible bar one blurry shot? It's a growing IP for them (no pun intended), and Miyamoto loves them, I just feel they'd show them, at least the baby being able to see them?

I dunno, I also kind of think maybe it's as someone else said, not connected to either and it's a saccharine "magic is all around us" kind of thing. But I would think there would be more nods to other IP if that were the case?

@HammerGalladeBro The last image, isn't that her memory? In which case it's not necessarily accurate, especially a child's memory that will make things more whimsical and fantastical. I mean the hair colour matches and this could be a different point in time with a different haircut.

Also Rosalina's story is all about motherhood and being left alone, which are two things that the short is about.

The accuracy of the babies is a fair point though. But I will say that movie Peach isn't quite as accurate, and they might be mixing things up a bit more as the baby princess designs are a little bit palette-swap in the games or trying new styles for flashbacks and such?

I just feels to me that there is a LOT of Rosalina connections and the only Pikmin connection is it looks like a Pikmin could be carrying them, but it's invisible. Except for the one shot where it's so blurry it's impossible to see and could easily be another toy block? That's weirdly inconsistent in and of itself.

Perhaps it's nothing and we're all reading into it. Perhaps later a version will be released with visible Pikmin? That seems crazy even for Nintendo though. But it has got everyone talking. I hope if there is a Pikmin movie it will be about the Pikmin scale things and not humans around them like this.

I know the piano is a little Pikmin-esque, but it's not-not Mario Galaxy-esque either.

This is Baby Rosalina. Look at the hair! It's the same colour, it has the same big quiff at the front and the same side tufts.

Then there's the pale blue and yellow colours of the romper suit and rattle, very evocative of Rosalina's colours.

The anti-gravity is a Mario Galaxy thing, as are levels made of blocks like these (I know Sunshine did them first, but Galaxy doubled-down). That's where Rosalina originated!

And then at the end, the dummy (or pacifier if you will), lands in the stars on the mobile above the cot. After it floats about, moving not unlike a Luma.

I don't understand how "invisible Pikmin" is where so many are landing, it could not be more Rosalina coded and we know the next Mario film is Galaxy based. I wish we were getting a Pikmin film, but this ain't it.

“But why?”

Guessing you’ve never had to play a multiplayer game with kids? If I could turn off those buttons when I play Mario Party with my niece and nephew I would!

There’s always a point where one accidentally presses the home button and then that suddenly becomes a game for them. That or I’ll have 100+ screenshots afterwards I have to delete.

I love playing Nintendo games with them, but yeah this would actually be amazing in an official capacity!

It’s weird, but I think one of the reasons the Sonic Racing series just doesn’t appeal to me even though I love kart racers, is the kart - character ratio.

In Mario Kart the character and kart always feel a near 50-50 split. So the karts themselves become chibi and exaggerated. And then it means Nintendo can really focus on adding character to the animations and interactions. In Sonic they feel almost like fully sized cars and the character is much smaller inside them. Look at that promo image at the top of the article, Mega Man is so small compared to the car around him. The characters feel secondary rather than equal.

It’s a small thing, but it really makes a huge difference to me.

So I did this and it's really hard because some letter like X have none and some like C have too many!

Z- Zorua (Hisuian) - made a cool Pokemon ever cooler
Y - Yamask - such a messed up 'dex entry!
X - Xenereas - because I dislike the others more
W - Wingull - I just feel they're a subtle nod to Kururin
V - Vivillon - I love the whole evo line and the variants
U - Umbrean - sleek and classy design
T - Tangrowth - but special mention for Trubbish
S - Sirfetch'd - honestly I never cared for Fatfetch'd until Sirfetch'd. Special mention to Scraggy
R - Rotom - I love the little ghost that possessed electronics!
Q - Quagsire - pefectly stupid
P - Psyduck - perfect concept, perfect execution
O - Overquill - best name
N - Noibat - and/or Noivern
M - Mudkip - the best starter by a long way
L - Litwick - will-o-wisp via haunted house tropes, I love it!
K - Kabutops - was cool when I was a kid and still cool now!
J - Jigglypuff - Honestly? Perfection.
I - Ivysaur - for all the reasons the article states
H - Honedge - a haunted sword is cool, that is fact.
G - Greavard - spooky dog
F - Frogadier - similar reasons to Ivysaur, plus great name
E - Espeon - they really nailed it with the 2nd batch of eeveelutions
D - Drifblim - I couldn't say why I just love it
C - Cubone - special mention to Clodsire
B - Bergmite - lil' cutie
A - Archen - I just love the design

Exactly how I feel about Ivysaur too. They are just the perfect Pokémon. Might try and compile my own list later, seems a fun activity