Picola-Wicola

Last week I picked up Pepper Grinder and NieR Automata (it was 40%off), largely to help cut down my Balatro overconsumption (125 hours). And you know what, NieR has done the trick! I am absolutely loving this game.

When someone repeatedly calls Super Mario 64 “3D Mario”, are they being clever, ironic, or just showing they have no idea what they are talking about? Genuinely curious.

@LikelySatan I am so glad there is another satisfied Nitro Deck user on here! I bought it two months ago and have not taken my switch out since. I got it because I do 99% of my gaming in handheld, and the left Joy-Con kept disconnecting in handheld mode (was not an issue with a specific joycon as I tried 3 different ones). I was put off for quite a while by NLife’s own review, which heavily criticised the placement of the right analogue stick, but I have had 0 problems with that, or indeed anything about the Nitro Deck. It’s turned my OLED into a marvellous little self-contained handheld console.

@Diowine I was scrolling through the comments and got to 50 with no mention of Hades 2, so I was going to say the exact same thing!

@Blofse I’ve just won my 5th game after 40 hours, so only just unlocked the challenges, and similarly my tactic in pretty much every win was to level up two pairs and jokers that compliment that hand. Still a great game though.

This has been in my backlog for over a year, but archived it when I heard that 1.6 will be coming to switch. Soon as this drops I will redownload and finally start a first playthrough

I’m on Chapter 6 of Dave the Diver and making good progress on Prince of Persia, so I will continue with those… providing I can put that bloody poker game down! I’ve won with 4 decks so far, so one more deck to go to see what those challenges are after unlocking with 5 decks.

I picked up two games last week (Prince of Persia got a nice discount in the eshop, and that game you subliminally made me buy NLife, even though I don’t care for card games)… and damn you, now I can’t put Balatro down!

@Teksetter Another very sensible comment. Thank you.

Two different games on switch will be taking up my time this weekend: Dave the Diver (seriously, what an absolute gem of a game! Keeps surprising and delighting at every turn) and Quake 2. Quake 2 has been in my backlog since the NLife 10/10 review, but only started it this week and it is great fun.

Dave the Diver doesn’t surprise me, it’s an absolute gem of a game and I can’t put it down at the minute.

Great news on the demo, will give it a whirl now, if I can tear myself away from Dave the Diver…

After reading the NLife review I went to download it straight away, and noticed it was completely unavailable. As soon as it get re-listed I will be buying, sounds like a fantastic game.

I cannot find this anywhere on the European eshop, just done multiple searches including the game name, then poker. Nothing. Am I missing something?

I bought Astral Ascent on Tuesday, and I haven’t even closed it, or touched another game since. What a fantastic roguelike with such smooth gameplay. Will be pouring more hours into it this weekend.

@Frailbay30 Couldn’t agree more. It’s the comments posted mere seconds after a lengthy article goes live that I don’t understand.

@Rykdrew That is absolutely fair enough, and I totally get it. My stance just differs, is all.

So many people saying backwards compatibility is a dealbreaker! Personally, I don’t want to buy a new consoles to play my old games, and I will be keeping my switch OLED anyway. Will it be more convenient? Sure. But an actual dealbreaker, where I choose not to be able to play Nintendo’s next generation of brilliant games just because I can’t play the games I’ve been playing for 7 years and probably had my fill of by then? Not a chance.

Coincidentally I just finished Story Mode last night after Wonder gave me the taste for more 2D Mario…. But why are some of the 5-star-difficulty levels harder than Special World in Wonder!?

Such a shame! I absolutely adored Blasphemous 2 on switch last year and was hoping this would fill that (back) hole after completing it. I have an OLED and play almost exclusively handheld - is it actually worth me giving this a shot?

I have had an OLED since October 2022 and have done 99% of my gaming in handheld since then, so an OLED lite would very much suit me.

@B_Lindz I’ve been looking for a new 2D platformer to play on switch. Can I ask what made it make your top 10?

I keep seeing those joy cons with SNES coloured buttons and a proper d-pad in NLife pictures - how do I get hold of those!?

Haven’t they overtaken Apple recently to become the most valuable company in the world? Worth multiple trillions (a mind-boggling number that is so huge it’s incomprehensible to most people), and their gaming division is but a tiny fraction of their business. They can pretty much do what they want with that kind of money.

@gcunit just wanted to say you have made two very good points in your last two comments. Those were my thoughts as well reading through the comments of some others.

Finished the demo today and it felt fantastic to play. Will definitely be purchasing the full game on the back of it.

Would rather beat it the old-fashioned way…. by, you know, actually playing the game.

I don’t play Mario games to listen to the voices, so it meant little to me playing Wonder, just pure platforming perfection. I’m on the final test on Special World after getting all Wonder Seeds (although I’ve heard recently there is yet another, final, FINAL, test… geez, that one will be HARD).

Got Mario Wonder and RPG with the game vouchers. Got 3 stars so far on RPG and loving it… but not as much as Wonder. Already blasted through the 6 main worlds and unlocked Bowser’s castle, and I have to say this is the most sheer and utter joy I’ve had playing a video game since Mario Galaxy on the Wii. Every single level has made me smile in one way or another. Platforming perfection. Best 2D Mario game since SMB3 (yes, that includes World!).

TOTK is my number 1, but also solid 10s go to Blasphemous 2 and Metroid Prime Remastered. I’m guessing Mario Wonder will also be a 10, but I have only played for 2 hours so far.

@Manguy888A my thoughts exactly! Didn’t know what half of those VR headsets were…

Witcher 3 topped my list at over 300 hours! Followed closely by TOTK at 270, though I haven’t beaten Ganondorf yet, so it will probably be top by time I finish.

@martynstuff loving those alternative sub-headings! I fear our American friends who visit the site won’t quite get them, but kudos.

I haven’t played this since it was Champ Manager. Is this a good time to get back into it, I wonder? Great review.

Thanks for the informative article, NLife. I genuinely knew nothing about this game. As for the few comments claiming it’s an ad, there are very few websites I read every day and trust not to force things on me: one is BBC Sport (who do not advertise in any way, shape or form) and the other is Nintendo Life, who always state any kind of affiliation.

@Vil Metroid Prime Remastered is an absolute masterclass in video game design. You will not be disappointed.

Is anyone else as hooked as I am on F-Zero 99!? I can’t get enough, even though I still haven’t got that darned podium finish. What a great surprise release this has turned out to be after the Direct.

Going to try to clear some of my backlog before Wonder drops, so it’s Ape Out today (with generous sprinkles of the wildly fun F-Zero 99!).

This guide is much appreciated! I’ve never played F-Zero before, but had so much fun on this. Why did the game not tell me there was a brake button!? Now to try for a top ten finish…

@Teksetter I have just booted it up today - my save file says I haven’t played since last November, so I am having to learn the fundamentals again! Just filled up my launch boosters too

@Zuljaras here here! My only complaint with 2 is I encountered a glitch last night, after finding the secret room with paintings of other metroidvanias. There is a cherub there, and when you jump down from the room, you get infinite cherubs. Stupidly, I did it until I had all 33, but now I am locked out of that whole quesline, unable to reach the top of the tower and unable to get any more rewards from finding cherubs. If you haven’t come across it yet, stay away from that room!

@Zuljaras I came here to say I will be playing Blasphemous 2 and to ask why no-one is talking about how darn good this game is! So glad it was mentioned in the first comment. Seriously, the best 2D soulslike/metroidvania/whatever you want to call it I have ever played. It is an unbelievably amazing game.

Sounds quite nice, but I’ll stick with my OLED with purple and orange joycons attached (the white ones that came with it get dirty around certain buttons so easily!).

@Prizm That is precisely what I wanted to know actually, so thanks very much for that.

@MattmanForever Thank you, that’s really useful.

As someone who has never played a JRPG… do I start here!?

I only played the first one a month ago, and absolutely loved it! This is a day one purchase for me. Great review, really upped the hype for me.

I’m still taking a hiatus from TOTK, so started Bayonetta 3. Awesome so far (even if it feels like a different game with every chapter - seriously, how many different control schemes do you have to learn!?). Will also continue with Oracle of Ages

@psyraven76 Ah, makes sense now! Thank you.

Showing my age/naïveté here, but what is this NSFW acronym that this site keeps referring to!? I would Google it, but the fact that it is always accompanied by a ‘warning’ is highly discouraging me from doing so!!