I finished Partners in Time on a borrowed copy and at the time thought: "Oh, maybe I don't need to buy this after all."
I regret that now as it's the only game in the series I don't own physically, even though I bought it on Wii U.
That said the reason I never did buy it while it was available for purchase was because playing it felt like a huge slog and adjectives like "tightest" and "briskest" made me do a big old double-take.
It was a weird video for me, because I don't disagree that there are aspects that you wish could be better, but it also didn't seem like there was anything massively baffling or unexplained. The changes from PS3 are what they are. Those are inherited by virtue of using the latest base to work from, and it probably was way beyond their purview to deal with any of that. Then compared to PS4, one is stable 60fps and one is not. Not only that, but despite all efforts to equivocate power of consoles, the reality is that bottlenecks exist at different points on different platforms. This game uses a custom engine that was never intended to run on something like a Switch 2. The reasons for decisions made in the porting process are just speculation.
I really hate the term lazy port, because it implies if they just worked harder it would be better. The truth is I doubt the expectations for return on investment for a 12 year old game being sold for MSRP $20 is that high, and is unlikely to cause anyone to devote a team of any size to it. Red Dead Redemption will hopefully be done better, but it also costs $50 still. I bought it on sale for $25 which is still more.
I suppose it would be nice if they could have fit a 30fps mode in there, but it also makes a lot of sense to me that if they were already getting it to work on Switch 1 at 30, they should just plant their flag on doing 60 on Switch 2 and call it a day. I'd much rather this result than have it be only a nicer looking 30fps mode.
Yeah doing a wilderness trail has some inherent problems, but to everyone saying there's no way to deal with it at all, state parks here have implemented free electric track chairs. It's like a wheelchair with tank tracks. Really cool. People should be able to get outside.
@tjhiphop Yeah I guess it’s just odd when I see people do things like tally up what every amiibo in the presentation costs if you bought all of them and think, “You were doing that even before they were $30-40?”
I bought the TOTK Sidon amiibo because he’s the best and I wanted him on my desk but I didn’t need the whole set.
My take on the screen is that most people that really care about screens probably already have an OLED and should just continue to use it for 2D content in handheld. If you are a gamer that saw no reason to buy an OLED then you also likely won’t mind the screen on this anyway. At the end of the day it’s a hybrid system that statistics show is used docked a lot more than a Steam Deck probably would be. In that case the screen is as good as what you hook it to and it becomes moot anyway. So I’m not surprised if they did not spare no expense on this aspect.
I guess I never really thought about it before but I guess outside of racing games I kind of agree. Especially when it comes to playing 3D Mario when the trigger is used for ducking/long jumping/etc. Just using the top shoulder button wouldn’t feel good.
I mostly like dumb arcade racers where you just hold down the accelerator anyway.
I’ll say this. At least they are being clear about it.
The same thing happens on other consoles and I have to do research to find out the disc is a coaster.
I will just buy digital instead in these cases. Why deal with, essentially, the downsides of both physical AND digital? The one advantage is you can sell it, but I don’t generally do that so.
Especially if the game uses the “Virtual Game Card” stuff this just comes off worse.
That said I’m okay with it as an option because realistically I think the games that will use it would have been digital only without it anyway due to costs.
Switch 1 was definitely not just like any other controller. I do think it was hamstrung a bit by size as they noted compared with my PS5 experiences, but the HD Rumble in Mario Wonder was particularly good and had a lot of texture and directionality.
I remember when people were equally confused by Animal Crossing.
Commercial success does not necessarily reflect any one person’s personal feelings.
I’m glad quirky Nintendo continues and I think we got the perfect Switch 1 sendoff.
Interesting to note the producer on Tomodachi Life has traditionally been Yoshio Sakamoto.
Metroid, Famicom Detective Club, and Tomodachi Life. I think that’s such a weird and wonderful contribution to the overall catalog. I’m glad that Nintendo doesn’t stagnate into just a Mario and Zelda producer.
Mario Kart 8 sold to a large percentage of people with a Wii U. That just wasn’t many people.
Then it sold to a large percentage of people with a Switch. That was a lot of people.
I don’t know if Timmy would get a Switch 2 just to play MK9 but whenever the Timmys of the world do get a Switch 2 then Mario Kart 9 is likely to come home in the same bag.
For one thing there was definitely fine print that indicated this whole new system is optional so regardless of what you think it’s not really a negative. I’m copying it here:
“By navigating to User Settings -> Online-License Settings and turning the setting to ON you can instead opt to connect to the internet to start up software.”
I think it’s a net win on the whole. Say when I get a Switch 2 and maybe the screen is not OLED or just for casual use I like my Switch 1 because it’s a little smaller or any other reason while playing something like Famicom Detective Club I would rather just use my OLED Switch over a Switch 2. I can just put that game on my Switch OLED without affecting my ability to play the new Mario on Switch 2 and don’t have to constantly deal with internet authorization or swapping my primary console back and forth.
I don’t think it has anything to do with Japanese vs Western so much as if developers aren’t making what they find fun and enjoyable then you are basically flying blind. When you are reduced to trying to target your idea of what some arbitrary audience wants not only can you often just be mistaken but it leads to a focus entirely on what has worked in the past because that’s the only data you have. So really it’s the same problem a lot of live service games face, just in a different context.
I think Japanese devs can and have made “Westernized” games that were amazing and successful, but only by focusing on what it is they liked about that. Not what some arbitrary fake image of an American audience thinks.
Yes I was in college when Shadow of the Colossus came out and I definitely remember poor performance being talked about. It was a great game, but that was always a small caveat. But no things were not talked about in the same way when it comes to those types of things, but I believe it to be more a difference of perception and expectation.
My examples are more apples to apples because the era of games targeted to one specific system is largely over. When targeting a large range of platforms in the modern day the oldest ones are sometimes going to stretch too thin at the end. But way back technology was such that you couldn’t do it -at all- You can’t get a N64 game on a SNES so the comparison just doesn’t make sense to me.
I’m not very surprised. I bought Ryza 3 on PS5 because the writing was already on the wall.
Atelier doing something different isn’t crazy to me as someone whose introduction to the series was Atelier Iris. I like the look of this one and am really looking forward to playing it when I have time, but probably on PS5.
First half of 2025 is definitely too many games for me.
This is where I’m at. I’m not sure I care about watching it, but if I loved Minecraft like I loved Mario I’m not sure I could say in good conscience that I wouldn’t look at it with different eyes. I’m not sure the Mario movie stands on its own without context either. Though I also think Minecraft itself has less visually to work with and I wonder if a completely animated movie would have served it better.
I played the first couple worlds of Mario World over and over again and generally thought the bridges and after were too hard for the first few years of owning a SNES. I think we forget that maybe it’s okay to not actually finish or proceed further in the game especially if someone else is dragging her along.
(But that doesn’t make playing the bits you can manage less fun and the repetition eventually made me better.)
People said the same things about the PS5 Pro when we knew most of the things about that before it was ever officially announced because you cannot keep a lid on something that needs to be manufactured in a factory, but also it didn’t really matter.
I don’t care what the thing IS I want to know what it DOES, and for the most part other than knowing it will do most everything the Switch does because it’s backwards compatible and I guess the superficial ***** I don’t feel like I know that at all. UI, games, new features that aren’t on the old model and how they are used. I don’t feel much of that has been made clear at all.
Comparisons between a handheld and a console tend to not work out perfectly.
My feeling has always been it will probably work out in the end. The mere fact that they put 12 GB of RAM into it and not 8 has always felt like confirmation that they have designed it to receive cut down ports from current gen and to run Unreal 5 with less headache. How far that goes and how miracle the ports will be is something we can only know when people start doing them.
Only one studio does it and it is their distinctive house style and they have varied it quite a lot. I don’t particularly think the implementation of Octopath and DQ3 is that much the same.
Feels like telling the Persona team hey maybe it’s time you knock it off with the loud colors, there are other art styles.
I’m judging based on description but I really think you have to do something unique with your style if you use voxels (like The Touryst) otherwise at this point because of an avalanche of Minecraft rip offs it kinda screams shovelware to me. And that description really makes it seem like it’s dancing close to shovelware territory.
But also “Animal Crossing competitor” is a bizarre framing for something that sounds much more like a Minecraft style game. I don’t think a game with combat is something I’d consider in the same genre.
Article says he was called a “beautiful person” when the actual post that followed said “beautiful human” instead. Normally I wouldn’t be pedantic but you did use quotations.
Not a big deal for me but they should maybe add an option.
Super Mario RPG Remake also changed how you used the menus because originally you pressed whatever button opened the menu to confirm I.E. open the item menu with X then Select the item with X and confirm who to use it on with X as well. By default the Remake only uses X to open the menu then A to do selections.
But! You could toggle the original way in the options if you wanted. I thought I wanted the original way but after playing that way for a bit I actually decided the new way was less confusing for me now and switched back.
I didn’t comment on the Romancing SaGa 2 review because despite my gut feeling that it was extremely odd I have not played that game yet.
This I have played and it was actually the first game in the series I played and it hooked me from start to finish and I 100% completed it without even intending to because I didn’t want to stop playing it. Reading this review was like trying to decipher someone speaking a different language.
I dunno what’s with NintendoLife giving 6s to potential stone cold classics recently but I hope this is some isolated weirdo takes.
This is a lot for something that probably only merits a trivia bullet point. This sort of thing is never going away and is probably just some concession to a ratings agency somewhere. It also must be said we are talking about art that will feature little if at all in-game. Once you get the sprite version what's the difference gonna be? 4 or 5 pixels?
You know there is some distance between "that's a bit silly" and "gaming as we know it is over" but I guess you can't make money off of mild annoyance.
@larryisaman From the US here, but it just seems point for point so similar to what GameStop has tried to do. You’d think a store about selling games would try to make itself one of the nicest places to buy games, but they are just the opposite. I’d much rather go to a big box store or buy online or go to a different used game shop. And if you suck at selling video games I don’t know how selling toys is going to improve matters.
There seems to be this universal strategy these dying stores flail around with ineffectively. The whole maybe things will be okay if we sell other stuff. It doesn’t seem to work.
@blodermoder They would have called them novel games and had them be distinct from adventure games, though. Yes they do come from adventure games. Ultimately the entire lineage of adventure games comes down several branches of a river flowing from text adventure games and Colossal Cave Adventure, from which the genre name seems ultimately derived. But while that makes all visual novels adventure games I don’t think all adventure games are visual novels. That would be like saying all adventure games are walking simulators because that new distinction evolved out of adventure games as well.
And when it comes to games like Phoenix Wright when they first came out here nobody called them visual novels. In 2005 it was an adventure game. And I still think the term visual novel is more useful in describing gameplay if it was kept to a more narrow grouping just as with walking simulator. Both being adventure games but both being stripped down versions where the primary activity is reading in the former or exploring an environment in the latter.
I’ve accepted that it’s impossible to fight against popular convention, but it’s still a pet peeve that visual novel is just used to denote any kind of adventure or narrative game coming from or influenced by Japan. Effectively it is now to adventure game what JRPG is to RPG. I just think it lumps too many games together to use it this way rather than have it mean what it literally means. A novel with visuals. Aka a mostly non interactive experience outside of maybe some choices. Games with actual mechanics aren’t ever going to be visual novels to me.
Very weird that the game being good or selling well or whatever is even in the conversation because if the game was a flaming train wreck it wouldn’t justify harassment of developers.
Buy it or don’t. Like it or don’t. But that’s never appropriate.
It’s also interesting to me when people care enough to complain endlessly about how much they don’t care. Usually I just ignore a game I find mediocre and move on with my life I don’t post about it every day shouting about how mediocre it is. Usually shows there is something else going on.
I’ll be the one guy who has incredible nostalgia for Quest for Camelot. I got it with my GBC on the same Christmas and I feel like that, Mario Bros. Deluxe, and Pokémon Yellow really define my early memories of the system. I also remember reading about it in Nintendo Power. It’s been many years but I recall it being a fun enough zeldalike. No idea how that comes to be but if we can have random licensed games I’ll nominate the OG Game Boy James Bond. Surprisingly fun little game.
@MARl0 Much like it's still weird to play Symphony of the Night without hearing "Die monster, you don't belong in this world!" I would be confused playing this game without being told "Slaves for fashion dislike bulges."
Some context: I saw a comparison video a fan did when the original trailer came out that showed they're actually bringing the graphics of Klonoa 1 more in line with the original PS1 version. The Wii game's graphics were criticized by many at the time of its release for washing OUT the color of the original while improving the graphics. At least as far as the first game goes I think what they did is more a best of both worlds.
There are not enough clips of Klonoa 2 for me to say one way or the other.
I think the song is fun and fits the level it comes from. Klonoa 2 is an OST of all time for me. One of the few non-Squaresoft games I paid to import from Japan back in the day.
I really like physically collecting Switch games, so in that sense I do end up with a lot of LRG releases.
I do feel they have a lot of legitimate problems. And many of the problems come off worse because I just don't like their vibe. I know that's a pretty vague criticism, maybe even bordering on unfair. That said even in this interview I feel it. When a brand starts mattering more than the product I tune out. That's what it feels like has been increasingly happening. People just buy the LRG stuff because...it's LRG. Does the game matter anymore? If Poop Simulator came on a cartridge would you buy the Collector's Edition that came with a commemorative poop coin? At least to keep it sealed on the shelf. Their game pages don't sell me on the games they sell, even.
I feel the passion from places like Super Rare and Fangamer. Neither is without problems, but...for example I read Super Rare's e-mails they send about the games they release. I feel like they legitimately want to sell me the GAME, not just a box with a brand on it. And that makes all the difference in the world to my perception.
I would like it if the plan was clearer, but I also acknowledge that I don't know what the challenges are for doing that. Yes fan projects and emulators already emulate these games, but that was work done over a very long period of time. Anyone who has used a less stable and established emulator should know it doesn't come out looking like that Day One. Huge slowdown, disappearing textures, physics bugs...all probably worse than the fog being set wrong. And of course Nintendo's offering shouldn't be that rough, they are selling it and are a professional company, but that doesn't change the work behind the scenes needed to get it done and make sure it's right. It's quite possible progress is not regular enough to have a plan.
Also, I've never liked the "games I've never heard of" kind of rhetoric. Every game was a game you never heard of once. Are some of the latter day releases stone cold classics? Maybe not. But that doesn't make them all bad games.
Comments 54
Re: Feature: The Tightest, Briskest Mario & Luigi Game Turns 20 Today And Deserves More Love
I finished Partners in Time on a borrowed copy and at the time thought: "Oh, maybe I don't need to buy this after all."
I regret that now as it's the only game in the series I don't own physically, even though I bought it on Wii U.
That said the reason I never did buy it while it was available for purchase was because playing it felt like a huge slog and adjectives like "tightest" and "briskest" made me do a big old double-take.
Re: Digital Foundry Dives Into Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition's "Big Downgrades" On Switch 2
It was a weird video for me, because I don't disagree that there are aspects that you wish could be better, but it also didn't seem like there was anything massively baffling or unexplained. The changes from PS3 are what they are. Those are inherited by virtue of using the latest base to work from, and it probably was way beyond their purview to deal with any of that. Then compared to PS4, one is stable 60fps and one is not. Not only that, but despite all efforts to equivocate power of consoles, the reality is that bottlenecks exist at different points on different platforms. This game uses a custom engine that was never intended to run on something like a Switch 2. The reasons for decisions made in the porting process are just speculation.
I really hate the term lazy port, because it implies if they just worked harder it would be better. The truth is I doubt the expectations for return on investment for a 12 year old game being sold for MSRP $20 is that high, and is unlikely to cause anyone to devote a team of any size to it. Red Dead Redemption will hopefully be done better, but it also costs $50 still. I bought it on sale for $25 which is still more.
I suppose it would be nice if they could have fit a 30fps mode in there, but it also makes a lot of sense to me that if they were already getting it to work on Switch 1 at 30, they should just plant their flag on doing 60 on Switch 2 and call it a day. I'd much rather this result than have it be only a nicer looking 30fps mode.
Re: PokéPark Kanto Includes A Major Area Those With Limited Mobility Can't Access
Yeah doing a wilderness trail has some inherent problems, but to everyone saying there's no way to deal with it at all, state parks here have implemented free electric track chairs. It's like a wheelchair with tank tracks. Really cool. People should be able to get outside.
Re: Review: Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush (Switch 2) - DLC That's Ripe With Fun, But Could've Been More
@tjhiphop Yeah I guess it’s just odd when I see people do things like tally up what every amiibo in the presentation costs if you bought all of them and think, “You were doing that even before they were $30-40?”
I bought the TOTK Sidon amiibo because he’s the best and I wanted him on my desk but I didn’t need the whole set.
Re: Review: Donkey Kong Bananza: DK Island & Emerald Rush (Switch 2) - DLC That's Ripe With Fun, But Could've Been More
If you don’t like the DLC mode the DLC adds then there’s nothing for you.
Big con to DK Bananza is if you don’t like 3D platformers it’s a big waste of money.
Re: Review: Gradius Origins (Switch) - An Almost-Perfect Package For Shoot 'Em Up Fans
“Salamander 2 is frankly glorious, this being its first home appearance since the PlayStation and Saturn Deluxe Packs”
I played it on PSP, though.
Re: Digital Foundry Is "Happy" With Switch 2 But Feels The Screen Is "Problematic"
My take on the screen is that most people that really care about screens probably already have an OLED and should just continue to use it for 2D content in handheld. If you are a gamer that saw no reason to buy an OLED then you also likely won’t mind the screen on this anyway. At the end of the day it’s a hybrid system that statistics show is used docked a lot more than a Steam Deck probably would be. In that case the screen is as good as what you hook it to and it becomes moot anyway. So I’m not surprised if they did not spare no expense on this aspect.
Re: Here's A Look At The Size And Inside Of Switch 2 Game Cases
@N00BiSH
Not sure this can be determined. Mario Kart 8 in the comparison also didn’t have art inside and should have, shouldn’t it?
Re: Opinion: I Hope Trails In The Sky 1st Chapter Doesn't Make A 'Big' Remake Mistake
Talking about 2004 like it’s 1981.
Re: Here's Why Switch 2 Joy-Con And Pro Controllers Don't Have Analogue Triggers
I guess I never really thought about it before but I guess outside of racing games I kind of agree. Especially when it comes to playing 3D Mario when the trigger is used for ducking/long jumping/etc. Just using the top shoulder button wouldn’t feel good.
I mostly like dumb arcade racers where you just hold down the accelerator anyway.
Re: Switch 2 Game-Key Cards Aren't Tied To Nintendo Accounts
I’ll say this. At least they are being clear about it.
The same thing happens on other consoles and I have to do research to find out the disc is a coaster.
I will just buy digital instead in these cases. Why deal with, essentially, the downsides of both physical AND digital? The one advantage is you can sell it, but I don’t generally do that so.
Especially if the game uses the “Virtual Game Card” stuff this just comes off worse.
That said I’m okay with it as an option because realistically I think the games that will use it would have been digital only without it anyway due to costs.
Re: Opinion: No One Is Talking About The Switch 2's Best Feature
Switch 1 was definitely not just like any other controller. I do think it was hamstrung a bit by size as they noted compared with my PS5 experiences, but the HD Rumble in Mario Wonder was particularly good and had a lot of texture and directionality.
Re: Rumour: More Switch 2 Development Kit Rumours Emerge
Consider this:
Most of what you’d hear is that people don’t have them because the people that do probably don’t say anything at all.
Re: Hang On, Are People More Excited For Tomodachi Life Than Switch 2?
I remember when people were equally confused by Animal Crossing.
Commercial success does not necessarily reflect any one person’s personal feelings.
I’m glad quirky Nintendo continues and I think we got the perfect Switch 1 sendoff.
Interesting to note the producer on Tomodachi Life has traditionally been Yoshio Sakamoto.
Metroid, Famicom Detective Club, and Tomodachi Life. I think that’s such a weird and wonderful contribution to the overall catalog. I’m glad that Nintendo doesn’t stagnate into just a Mario and Zelda producer.
Re: Ex-Nintendo Duo Unsure Mario Kart 9 Will Be An Instant "Slam Dunk" For Switch 2
Mario Kart 9 will sell if the Switch 2 sells.
Mario Kart 8 sold to a large percentage of people with a Wii U. That just wasn’t many people.
Then it sold to a large percentage of people with a Switch. That was a lot of people.
I don’t know if Timmy would get a Switch 2 just to play MK9 but whenever the Timmys of the world do get a Switch 2 then Mario Kart 9 is likely to come home in the same bag.
I think it’ll be okay.
Re: Nintendo Announces 'Virtual Game Cards' For Switch, Unlocking Digital Lending
I’ve been so confused by other peoples confusion.
For one thing there was definitely fine print that indicated this whole new system is optional so regardless of what you think it’s not really a negative. I’m copying it here:
“By navigating to User Settings -> Online-License Settings and turning the setting to ON you can instead opt to connect to the internet to start up software.”
I think it’s a net win on the whole. Say when I get a Switch 2 and maybe the screen is not OLED or just for casual use I like my Switch 1 because it’s a little smaller or any other reason while playing something like Famicom Detective Club I would rather just use my OLED Switch over a Switch 2. I can just put that game on my Switch OLED without affecting my ability to play the new Mario on Switch 2 and don’t have to constantly deal with internet authorization or swapping my primary console back and forth.
Re: Sakurai Says Japanese Developers Should Avoid Trying To Appeal To Western Tastes
I don’t think it has anything to do with Japanese vs Western so much as if developers aren’t making what they find fun and enjoyable then you are basically flying blind. When you are reduced to trying to target your idea of what some arbitrary audience wants not only can you often just be mistaken but it leads to a focus entirely on what has worked in the past because that’s the only data you have. So really it’s the same problem a lot of live service games face, just in a different context.
I think Japanese devs can and have made “Westernized” games that were amazing and successful, but only by focusing on what it is they liked about that. Not what some arbitrary fake image of an American audience thinks.
Re: Review: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist Of Memories & The Envisioned Land (Switch) - A Bold New Direction That Strains The Switch
@-wc-
Yes I was in college when Shadow of the Colossus came out and I definitely remember poor performance being talked about. It was a great game, but that was always a small caveat. But no things were not talked about in the same way when it comes to those types of things, but I believe it to be more a difference of perception and expectation.
My examples are more apples to apples because the era of games targeted to one specific system is largely over. When targeting a large range of platforms in the modern day the oldest ones are sometimes going to stretch too thin at the end. But way back technology was such that you couldn’t do it -at all- You can’t get a N64 game on a SNES so the comparison just doesn’t make sense to me.
Re: Review: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist Of Memories & The Envisioned Land (Switch) - A Bold New Direction That Strains The Switch
@-wc-
Eh. Sometimes. Shadow of the Colossus was frequently a 20fps game on PS2. The re-releases have done a lot for it.
Shadow of Mordor on PS3 ran at like 10-20 fps and cut the Nemesis system aka the entire point of the game practically.
Cyberpunk on PS4 was a mess.
Generational transitions are a messy period.
Re: Review: Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist Of Memories & The Envisioned Land (Switch) - A Bold New Direction That Strains The Switch
I’m not very surprised. I bought Ryza 3 on PS5 because the writing was already on the wall.
Atelier doing something different isn’t crazy to me as someone whose introduction to the series was Atelier Iris. I like the look of this one and am really looking forward to playing it when I have time, but probably on PS5.
First half of 2025 is definitely too many games for me.
Re: Final Minecraft Movie Trailer Still Hasn't Convinced Us On The Big-Screen Adaptation
@HotGoomba
This is where I’m at. I’m not sure I care about watching it, but if I loved Minecraft like I loved Mario I’m not sure I could say in good conscience that I wouldn’t look at it with different eyes. I’m not sure the Mario movie stands on its own without context either. Though I also think Minecraft itself has less visually to work with and I wonder if a completely animated movie would have served it better.
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"
As a fan of Kart racing 2025 gonna be a good one.
Re: Opinion: Miiverse Was Fine, But Does Anybody Really Want It Back In 2025?
Miiverse was just nice. I got helpful tips and it never made me mad.
All things considered if anything it seems more attractive now.
Re: Opinion: My Daughter Made Me Realise That Mario Wonder's Difficulty Options Need Work
I played the first couple worlds of Mario World over and over again and generally thought the bridges and after were too hard for the first few years of owning a SNES. I think we forget that maybe it’s okay to not actually finish or proceed further in the game especially if someone else is dragging her along.
(But that doesn’t make playing the bits you can manage less fun and the repetition eventually made me better.)
Re: Reaction: Nintendo Pins Hopes On Familiar Fun With Switch 2
We haven’t even seen a UI yet.
The physical form factor makes no sense to change. The Game Boy line had unbroken backwards compatibility for 16 years because it just worked.
And it is kind of funny to say this is unexciting after this is the 13th article about it posted today.
Re: Talking Point: Everyone Else Is Busy Revealing Switch 2 - What Gives, Nintendo?
People said the same things about the PS5 Pro when we knew most of the things about that before it was ever officially announced because you cannot keep a lid on something that needs to be manufactured in a factory, but also it didn’t really matter.
I don’t care what the thing IS I want to know what it DOES, and for the most part other than knowing it will do most everything the Switch does because it’s backwards compatible and I guess the superficial ***** I don’t feel like I know that at all. UI, games, new features that aren’t on the old model and how they are used. I don’t feel much of that has been made clear at all.
Re: Digital Foundry Weighs In On 'Switch 2' Motherboard - Just How Powerful Is It?
Comparisons between a handheld and a console tend to not work out perfectly.
My feeling has always been it will probably work out in the end. The mere fact that they put 12 GB of RAM into it and not 8 has always felt like confirmation that they have designed it to receive cut down ports from current gen and to run Unreal 5 with less headache. How far that goes and how miracle the ports will be is something we can only know when people start doing them.
Re: Talking Point: Is It Time For HD-2D To Take A Break?
Only one studio does it and it is their distinctive house style and they have varied it quite a lot. I don’t particularly think the implementation of Octopath and DQ3 is that much the same.
Feels like telling the Persona team hey maybe it’s time you knock it off with the loud colors, there are other art styles.
Re: Random: Now Pokémon Is Getting Its Own 'TCG' Rip-Off On The Switch eShop
The art is a different thing but the abbreviation TCG isn’t really exclusive to Pokémon.
Re: Rumour: Ubisoft May Be Working On An Animal Crossing Competitor
I’m judging based on description but I really think you have to do something unique with your style if you use voxels (like The Touryst) otherwise at this point because of an avalanche of Minecraft rip offs it kinda screams shovelware to me. And that description really makes it seem like it’s dancing close to shovelware territory.
But also “Animal Crossing competitor” is a bizarre framing for something that sounds much more like a Minecraft style game. I don’t think a game with combat is something I’d consider in the same genre.
Re: Lizardcube Co-Founder Leaves To Start New Game Company
Article says he was called a “beautiful person” when the actual post that followed said “beautiful human” instead. Normally I wouldn’t be pedantic but you did use quotations.
Re: Mario & Luigi Fans Aren't Happy About Brothership's Battle Button Tweaks
Not a big deal for me but they should maybe add an option.
Super Mario RPG Remake also changed how you used the menus because originally you pressed whatever button opened the menu to confirm I.E. open the item menu with X then Select the item with X and confirm who to use it on with X as well. By default the Remake only uses X to open the menu then A to do selections.
But! You could toggle the original way in the options if you wanted. I thought I wanted the original way but after playing that way for a bit I actually decided the new way was less confusing for me now and switched back.
Anyway they should do something like that.
Re: Reaction: With Xenoblade Chronicles X On Switch, The Wii U's Demise Is Complete
Wooly World is the best 2D platformer Good-Feel has made and second only to the original Yoshis Island so I would very much like to see it.
Re: Review: Yakuza Kiwami (Switch) - A Decent Port Of An Ambitious, Frustrating Game
I didn’t comment on the Romancing SaGa 2 review because despite my gut feeling that it was extremely odd I have not played that game yet.
This I have played and it was actually the first game in the series I played and it hooked me from start to finish and I 100% completed it without even intending to because I didn’t want to stop playing it. Reading this review was like trying to decipher someone speaking a different language.
I dunno what’s with NintendoLife giving 6s to potential stone cold classics recently but I hope this is some isolated weirdo takes.
Re: Dragon Quest's Creator Criticises 'Mistranslation' Of DQ3 Remake Costume Comments
This is a lot for something that probably only merits a trivia bullet point. This sort of thing is never going away and is probably just some concession to a ratings agency somewhere. It also must be said we are talking about art that will feature little if at all in-game. Once you get the sprite version what's the difference gonna be? 4 or 5 pixels?
You know there is some distance between "that's a bit silly" and "gaming as we know it is over" but I guess you can't make money off of mild annoyance.
Re: Review: Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club (Switch) - A Stylish Mystery With One Foot In The Past
I think it’s probably okay for a Japanese game with Japanese characters taking place in Japan to stick with Japanese voice work.
Godzilla Minus One didn’t have a dub when I saw it twice at the theater and somehow I made it through.
Re: Retailer GAME Is Reportedly Ending In-Store Pre-Orders
@larryisaman
From the US here, but it just seems point for point so similar to what GameStop has tried to do. You’d think a store about selling games would try to make itself one of the nicest places to buy games, but they are just the opposite. I’d much rather go to a big box store or buy online or go to a different used game shop. And if you suck at selling video games I don’t know how selling toys is going to improve matters.
Re: Talking Point: The Switch eShop Could Be Great With These Few Tweaks
It is frustrating especially when some things the Nintendo website (in NA) actually does. Like specific sale pages.
Honestly I use DekuDeals a lot for all three console platforms to find stuff out rather than go to their console or web stores.
Re: Retailer GAME Is Reportedly Ending In-Store Pre-Orders
There seems to be this universal strategy these dying stores flail around with ineffectively. The whole maybe things will be okay if we sell other stuff. It doesn’t seem to work.
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Visual Novels
@blodermoder
They would have called them novel games and had them be distinct from adventure games, though. Yes they do come from adventure games. Ultimately the entire lineage of adventure games comes down several branches of a river flowing from text adventure games and Colossal Cave Adventure, from which the genre name seems ultimately derived. But while that makes all visual novels adventure games I don’t think all adventure games are visual novels. That would be like saying all adventure games are walking simulators because that new distinction evolved out of adventure games as well.
And when it comes to games like Phoenix Wright when they first came out here nobody called them visual novels. In 2005 it was an adventure game. And I still think the term visual novel is more useful in describing gameplay if it was kept to a more narrow grouping just as with walking simulator. Both being adventure games but both being stripped down versions where the primary activity is reading in the former or exploring an environment in the latter.
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Visual Novels
I’ve accepted that it’s impossible to fight against popular convention, but it’s still a pet peeve that visual novel is just used to denote any kind of adventure or narrative game coming from or influenced by Japan. Effectively it is now to adventure game what JRPG is to RPG. I just think it lumps too many games together to use it this way rather than have it mean what it literally means. A novel with visuals. Aka a mostly non interactive experience outside of maybe some choices. Games with actual mechanics aren’t ever going to be visual novels to me.
Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns HD Costs $60 On Switch
Some fans are confused that water remains wet.
Re: Hands On: Can Lord Of The Rings Spice Up A Stale Genre With 'Tales Of The Shire'?
Any genre feels stale if you aren’t a fan of it?
Re: 'Tales Of Kenzara: Zau' Director Addresses "Constant Targeted Harassment"
Very weird that the game being good or selling well or whatever is even in the conversation because if the game was a flaming train wreck it wouldn’t justify harassment of developers.
Buy it or don’t. Like it or don’t. But that’s never appropriate.
It’s also interesting to me when people care enough to complain endlessly about how much they don’t care. Usually I just ignore a game I find mediocre and move on with my life I don’t post about it every day shouting about how mediocre it is. Usually shows there is something else going on.
Re: Nintendo Expands Switch Online's Game Boy Color, SNES & NES Library With Four More Games
I’ll be the one guy who has incredible nostalgia for Quest for Camelot. I got it with my GBC on the same Christmas and I feel like that, Mario Bros. Deluxe, and Pokémon Yellow really define my early memories of the system. I also remember reading about it in Nintendo Power. It’s been many years but I recall it being a fun enough zeldalike. No idea how that comes to be but if we can have random licensed games I’ll nominate the OG Game Boy James Bond. Surprisingly fun little game.
Re: Review: Castle Of Shikigami 2 - A Fine Version Of The Best Game In The Bullet-Hell Trilogy
@MARl0
Much like it's still weird to play Symphony of the Night without hearing "Die monster, you don't belong in this world!" I would be confused playing this game without being told "Slaves for fashion dislike bulges."
Re: Here's How The Klonoa Collection Stacks Up Against Wii And PS2 Counterparts
Bizarre to compare it to the Wii Klonoa.
Some context: I saw a comparison video a fan did when the original trailer came out that showed they're actually bringing the graphics of Klonoa 1 more in line with the original PS1 version. The Wii game's graphics were criticized by many at the time of its release for washing OUT the color of the original while improving the graphics. At least as far as the first game goes I think what they did is more a best of both worlds.
There are not enough clips of Klonoa 2 for me to say one way or the other.
I think the song is fun and fits the level it comes from. Klonoa 2 is an OST of all time for me. One of the few non-Squaresoft games I paid to import from Japan back in the day.
Re: Feature: How Limited Run's New Engine Respects The Legacy Of Classic Games
I really like physically collecting Switch games, so in that sense I do end up with a lot of LRG releases.
I do feel they have a lot of legitimate problems. And many of the problems come off worse because I just don't like their vibe. I know that's a pretty vague criticism, maybe even bordering on unfair. That said even in this interview I feel it. When a brand starts mattering more than the product I tune out. That's what it feels like has been increasingly happening. People just buy the LRG stuff because...it's LRG. Does the game matter anymore? If Poop Simulator came on a cartridge would you buy the Collector's Edition that came with a commemorative poop coin? At least to keep it sealed on the shelf. Their game pages don't sell me on the games they sell, even.
I feel the passion from places like Super Rare and Fangamer. Neither is without problems, but...for example I read Super Rare's e-mails they send about the games they release. I feel like they legitimately want to sell me the GAME, not just a box with a brand on it. And that makes all the difference in the world to my perception.
Re: Talking Point: Is It Ever A Good Idea To Start At 'The Beginning' Of Series Like Zelda Or Dragon Quest?
If you follow all the advice in this comments section simultaneously you will arrive at the true answer:
Don't play any video games at all.
In all seriousness the best entry point is the game you feel like playing. That's it.
Re: Former Nintendo Employee Admits He's Frustrated With Switch Online
I would like it if the plan was clearer, but I also acknowledge that I don't know what the challenges are for doing that. Yes fan projects and emulators already emulate these games, but that was work done over a very long period of time. Anyone who has used a less stable and established emulator should know it doesn't come out looking like that Day One. Huge slowdown, disappearing textures, physics bugs...all probably worse than the fog being set wrong. And of course Nintendo's offering shouldn't be that rough, they are selling it and are a professional company, but that doesn't change the work behind the scenes needed to get it done and make sure it's right. It's quite possible progress is not regular enough to have a plan.
Also, I've never liked the "games I've never heard of" kind of rhetoric. Every game was a game you never heard of once. Are some of the latter day releases stone cold classics? Maybe not. But that doesn't make them all bad games.