Pak-Man

This is the gamer equivalent of listening to records because the hisses and pops give it a "warm" sound.

As a life-long fan (In case there wasn't any compelling evidence), I pretty much had to preorder Shadow Labyrinth. Don't know what to expect from the unholy fusion of Pac-Man and Metroidvania, but I'm gonna find out.

Ah the old, "What is Indie" debate? The technically correct way to look at it is a small team that is not backed by a major developer. But then you have Square-Enix (For example) publishing games on behalf of smaller studios? Is Power Wash Simulator an indie game, or is it a game published by one of the biggest publishers on the planet?

You know, Mario has sold me on every sport from Baseball to Golf to Tennis, but I've never given the Strikers series a chance. Might as well, now that it's free.

Can't recommend Against the Storm enough. Been with it since Steam Early Access, and being able to play it on my couch is going to be pure bliss.

To be fair, Wreck-It-Ralph was kind of a Donkey Kong parody first.

Now hold on! I played Welcome Tour, and I know that the Switch 2 is designed to be just a teeeeeny bit UNstable. The instability ironically keeps it from tipping over when it's yanked from behind! So don't make it TOO stable, Nintendo!

Bananergy is my new favorite portmanteau ever.

Maybe this will silence that weird group of people on social media who seem heavily invested in the Switch 2 launch being a total failure. Probably not, though.

Had my eye on this since before it launched, but it was never the right time to buy. Looked in the shop and had a sudden bout of, "Well I just paid $500 for a new Switch, what's another $20 or so?" and now it awaits. But I have a feeling I'm going to want to free up some calendar time before I take the plunge.

@intergalacticNikolai I get it, but I would argue that the original Adventure already had a lot of prehistoric Metroidvania DNA in it, so in this case, it seems like a natural progression.

The minigames are fun, but I found it to be most interesting as an informational tool. If you're the type who likes to listen to director commentaries on your DVDs, this is like that, but for Switch 2!

Wouldn't put gyros in it if they didn't expect us to use it on some non-Gamecube games. Wonder how it will work with the inevitable new Smash Bros...

Exactly. Good for travel. I got the similar Club Nintendo game holder, and I use it whenever I go travelling because it's easier to pack and keep track of one case than it is to pack 12.

I don't think of it as "goodbye." I think of it as "See you later in a higher resolution and framerate."

Man, Nintendo's servers are going to be fried all day tomorrow.

I mean- I'm getting it. I gave up on the illusion of choice a long time ago. Nintendo demands it and so $10 shall be spent.

Eying my Best Buy preorder suspiciously. Still in progress... Still in progress... Just one and a half more days of obsessive checking...

If you'd told me 11 years ago that the Mario Kart Game that just came out would be the most consistent top-seller for Nintendo all the way through the next generation, I'd have said you were crazy.

I love Survival Kids! It would eventually become the Lost in Blue series.

Ever think, while playing Breath of the Wild, what it would be like to just scarf down 10 apples in one sitting?

Playing the same amount, however there is a small group of games in my backlog (Kirby and the Forgotten Land and Tears of the Kingdom, for instance) that I'm postponing until after the big upgrade.

Gaming is my introvert activity. I'll couch co-op with close friends and family, but I rarely even want to PLAY online, let alone listen to what they have to say.

@Flangela You know, it took me 20 years to catch the "PAW-sibly" pun. I just thought it was the standard cartoon setup-for-mayhem quip. Should have known better.

Age may be a factor here. We older gamers remember a time before the Internet (At least, the Internet as we know it today), and we don't trust its permanence. There's always this lingering possibility in our heads that it could all easily go away. And then where would we be? We'll be playing whatever physical games still work, is where.

Now here's Bravely Default on this Game-Key thing. I love the original Bravely Default and I want the remaster. I don't trust the game key, but I'm also accustomed to having a shelf that I can browse. Digital games feel insubstantial. I have literal thousands of Steam games that I've never even installed, and I have no physical games that I've never played. Why wouldn't you? If I get Bravely Default digitally, I don't get that, and I don't get that assurance that I have something that will work in the Inter-pocalypse. Now even if I get it physically, I don't have that assurance. But I'm not going to NOT GET Bravely Default.

There's no good answer and I don't care for it at all.

Lots of sketchy-sounding games with almost-words in their title this week.

Oh, I ADORE Against the Storm! If you're the type who loves to start cities in city-builders, but starts to lose interest once everything's up and running smoothly, this game's for you. The Roguelike element means you're always starting a fresh new city with unique challenges. It's brilliant.

@MrRom92 There's absolutely preservation in physical release. If Limited Run had been around during the Wii era, for instance, they could have physically released the Konami Rebirth games, and there would be ways for people to get their hands on copies today who didn't purchase them back in the early 2010s.

I actually LIKE Limited Run because of what they do, but I feel like they, more than anyone else, needs to reject the whole Game Key thing. Their WHOLE DEAL was, "Let's make physical media for titles that weren't going to get it so that we can preserve these games." And the reason they've been successful despite their slow shipping and other problems is they found an audience who is totally on-board with that preservation. Game Keys kind of defeat the whole appeal of Limited Run Games.

I put the widget on my phone's main screen because a Zelda calendar is cooler than just a regular old calendar.

I think back to my time waiting in front of Circuit City in the freezing cold all night to get myself a Wii on launch day. I think I hoped then that technology would make it easier, and I guess 2 hours waiting in line from the comfort of my own home was an improvement? Just thought we'd be further along than that.

It was a mess and I got kicked out of line for some reason at some point, but after a 2 hour wait, I scored the Mario Kart bundle from Best Buy!

I heart my Steam deck. I have a substantial and incredible built-in library waiting for me and I can play on the PC and continue on the couch, which is awesome. I've skipped Microsoft and Sony for the last two generations and don't really miss them.

But those sweet, sweet first-party titles keep me coming back to the big N. I don't want any part of a gaming landscape in which I can't play my Mario or Donkey Kong or Fire Emblem, or Zelda, or Metroid, or Pikmin, or Splatoon, or F-Zero, or Star Fox, or...

I think the world is ready for Cubivore. It wasn't then, but it might be now.

For those that are wondering about the time of year, Hallmark Keepsake ornaments are a whole thing. They drop in the springtime and most of the really cool ones are sold out by Christmas, so collectors are standing by, ready to pounce.

I started playing the first Hades in mid-November the year it came out. When My Nintendo end-of-year report came out, it was my most played game of that year.

I have Jurassic World Evolution for Switch. Looks great in docked mode, and it's a blurry mess when undocked. There are a few games like that. What I want to know is whether the Switch 2 will remove that downscaling automatically, or if the developers have to update the game for it to look better in handheld.

Backwards-Palatability

I'm more worried about a vocal part of the fan base that almost definitely believes that if they whine loudly enough and get enough people to join in the whining, they can will lower prices into existence.

Bravely Default is probably my favorite Square RPG of the last 20 years (Pixel remasters notwithstanding). I'm getting it for sure.

The archivist in me wants a box and a physical copy, but that same archivist doesn't like the whole game-key thing, so I don't know WHAT to do.

I'm not even that big into Donkey Kong games, but this was the star of the show. I'm getting Mario Odyssey vibes.

@ScalenePowers I'm about 99% sure that the certain games that WON'T be compatable are stuff like Ring Fit, where the controller hooked into a special peripheral.

What I saw was ample 3rd party support with A-List games. Lots that we were never gonna get on Switch 1.
I saw the ability to enhance my current library.
I saw a new Hyrule Warriors game, an incredibly fun looking Donkey Kong game, and confirmation that Civ VII will be Switch 2-Enhanced.
I saw the big obligatory goofy "Here's how your new system works" game with a price tag because Nintendo. It's outrageous and of course I'm gonna get it as long as they don't think they can charge $50 for it.

I am a happy camper. Now kindly confirm third party preorder information so I can stop refreshing the Best Buy website.

This is THE most Nintendo thing ever in the history of Nintendo.

Do we think that the news categories they ask you to choose from might mean that some news on those franchises is incoming next week?

Well today, I learned I've been saying both Balatro and Gradius wrong.

(I was sure it was Grah-de-us.)

If this means I don't have to put my Switch in Airplane mode when I'm playing something on my Switch Lite while my son plays something else, I'm a happy camper.

The cozy time waster that came when the world most needed cozy and had a lot of time to waste.

I read "Monster Hunter, Ace Attorney" as one title and briefly envisioned the perfect game.

I don't think anyone will be complaining about these two.