PikaPhantom

Nintendo really needs to start nudging third-party developers to offer 40fps modes...

@Smithicus Can you elaborate on what "overly Americanized" means here

@Otimus If you want to talk about a barren first 8 months of a system's life, go take a look at the Wii U and the whopping 2 first-party games it got after launch in that timeframe, one of which was a LEGO game and the other being a middling WarioWare spinoff

@Porky The Switch, and other consoles for that matter, aren't any different?

@Kiyata By around this point in the Wii U's life (July 2012, 8 months in), the only Nintendo-published games that had released since launch were Lego City Undercover and Game & Wario. Pikmin 3 was only just around the corner. The Switch 2 has had at least one first-party game release for it every month counting Switch 2 Editions, and the trend seems set to continue for the foreseeable future. The games aren't crazy heavy-hitters for one reason or another (taking a chance on smaller IP or spin-offs or cross-gen releases)...but neither were the ones the Wii U was getting around this time. It's also getting more substantial third-party support, and said third-parties are voicing that they're happy with the system and its specs when they were dragging the Wii U through the mud. The Switch's first year was better in many respects (though the lack of a first-party exclusive at retail that wasn't 1-2-Switch for 3 months should be held against it more), but things are quite a bit better and busier than many other Nintendo systems in their early days, and not just the Wii U.

@PharoneTheGnome The Legends games are considered mainline and the Generation 10 games are non-Legends games as per the leaks

It's going to be very funny if people just film their clips using their phones and just post those.

Hoping the SwitchBuddy app will come in clutch here. I haven't had any reason to use it since they updated the NSO app with the ability to save images and videos from your system, but I doubt however they were accomplishing it before Nintendo will be incompatible with Tomodachi Life as well

It was fine, but I'm not especially enthusiastic about all the news that's trickled out post-Direct. No online Mii sharing, image and video sharing is restricted, and the game is apparently $60, which feels like a bit much. The lack of mention for even just a free Switch 2 patch is also bizarre.

Big fan of Hugh Morris, though

Some of my earliest gaming memories involve playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii with my dad and siblings, and we fire up Mario Party semi-regularly, so the prospect of having a bunch of little multiplayer minigames built around 2D Mario is actually quite appealing to me. Getting the return of Challenge Mode from New Super Mario Bros. U alongside some new levels and bosses that seem to be taking really cool advantage of the Wonder Flower idea, as well as Rosalina, just sweetens the deal as far as I'm concerned. I just hope there's a bit of substance to the multiplayer minigames, though as long as there's at least a few stages to pick from for each mode I think it should be fine. We still fire up Nintendo Land every now and then and it's basically got the bare minimum in terms of maps for its main multiplayer modes

@Lizuka I imagine they also didn't want to go to the effort of having someone fill in for Cranky's role as the shopkeeper the same way Retro did for Tropical Freeze on Switch

@PikminMarioKirby Backporting a character from this game's sequel and introducing a janky sped up Time Attack really isn't more substantial than a game mode with 11 stages that have 7 difficulty modes each designed around replayability, 86 statues to collect with more coming through limited time events with unique rulesets, which get scattered across DK Island, a slew of new outfits, and a bizarrely cryptic and extensive puzzle for a Nintendo game. It shouldn't have been $20, but it was a meatier update than this is

I think it'd be good if this guide was updated with third-party games given specific enhancements for Switch 2 without actual Switch 2 Editions. There aren't many to my knowledge, but Animal Well received an update that restored effects cut from the Switch port and works seamlessly like the first-party free upgrades, Batman: Arkham Knight got a Switch 2-specific patch, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake got a free update that I believe basically just installs a new native version of the game to your system, and games like Easy Come, Easy Golf and Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound were given framerate toggles intended for use on the Switch 2.

Putting Persona 3 Reload as an honorable mention while ignoring really solid ports like Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is crazy work

@dskatter My understanding is that this upgrade was outsourced to Blitworks, actually. I think at least 40fps handheld would've been feasible, and I'm disappointed more developers aren't targeting it

If F-Zero GX has been improved I'll definitely try and get back around to it

Do we think this or Highguard is hitting EOS first?

So we're looking at a port where the filesize more than doubled, but the downgraded Switch 1 assets are still what's being used, while the framerate boost only applies to docked play...and there's not even mouse mode support?

Going to need this to be put out on a cartridge before I even consider buying it

@DashKappei Performance issues on PS5 Pro is wild. Apparently it holds up a bit better on Steam Deck but can still stutter even on recommended settings, so Steam Deck HQ recommends a 45fps cap

Hmm...the only other Switch 2 review I can find says the performance is very uneven, with a blurry handheld resolution and drops to 30fps with stutters. Not sure how much the performance vs. quality options impact things there, though

@Jack_Goetz There's actually evidence World was the last of the launch window first-party Switch 2 games to be completed. I saw discussion about how the credits are organized by when a developer joined the project, and there are cases where developers overlap with Bananza or Drag x Drive while coming at the end of a certain section of the credits, if I remember correctly.

Close enough, welcome back T tracks from Mario Kart Tour

@Liam_Doolan Huh. Wonder why the trailer didn't include it.

Just a heads up, but the Switch logo is nowhere to be seen in the MIO trailer. Seems like it was scrapped in favor of a Switch 2 port

Snagged Metroid Prime 4 physically on Switch 2 and put in a preorder for LOK Digital (also picked up Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter and KUUKIYOMI 4). I'll get Skate Story if the Switch 2 port is good. I'm interested in some other games as well, like Ultimate Sheep Raccoon, but I'm not sure about picking any of them up yet. Still wondering when Suika Game Planet is supposed to drop

@UpsideDownRowlet Well, in that case it is the biggest thing they have this month. Absolutely not this year, though

"Nintendo's biggest release of the month..." It's the only one

"...(the year?)"
If you laugh you go to hell

@RupeeClock I'm aware

Are these puzzles also asset flipped from another mobile game?

Very commendable how stable performance is when doing an all-Kamek race and dozens of enemies and hazards get summoned all at once. At least in solo play...

...That's not SpongeBob

I don't understand why we can't see the ID for a given design on the purchase screen. Means that if you can't afford it, good luck even being able to find it again. Saw a slick Eggman Vampire Star yesterday that I couldn't even buy because I didn't have the machine yet and I don't think I'll be able to find it again. Maybe it's on the Details screen?

@Gohanjin You have full control over how many laps you do on a given track in the full game (not sure what the upper limit is, though). The cap is 2 laps for most tracks, but many of them are roughly twice as long as most Mario Kart tracks. There's also a slower speed setting you can use

@Aswannsong Awesome ragebait man, tell that to the sales numbers and reception of Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Also have to consider the fact that a dedicated studio works on Kirby and that it's been their bread and butter since 1992. Smash outgrew them and their only other non-Kirby major releases since then have been Mother 3, which intentionally ended the series, and some Pokemon spinoffs, which have been deemphasized on console. HAL is not taking away from any dormant IP

Feeling the bias toward Western games (and generally the bigger ones) more than ever this year. Just really feels like anything developed in Japan has to hit it really big or fit into one of the niche categories to get anywhere, and it still has to be more prominent, considering how games like Fantasy Life i and Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter were ignored.

Mario Kart World is a criminal snub for the soundtrack category, but the jury has consistently proved they only really care about orchestral fare for cinematic games. We're lucky Silksong and Hades II both got nominations there

Does Digital Foundry at least acknowledge how genuinely nice interior areas in Z-A look? I almost wish they'd try to play to their visual strengths more, but indoors areas are few and far between in every new game post-Sword and Shield. Maybe they could even find a way to make a game take place entirely inside (imagine a Legends game set in the future on a large spaceship)?

This makes the decision to release Pokemon Pokopia as a Game-Key Card even more laughable, especially because it likely has a higher sales ceiling than just about any other Pokemon spinoff. These games are in high demand as physicals! There's absolutely no reason to not give Pokopia a proper one.

@Bats1234 No matter what, you're still getting a degree of proper ownership, saving on storage, and if patches are really a turn-off for you, you can at least wait because many Switch games receive reprints where everything is on the cartridge. Game-Key Cards provide none of that.

Shame. I was starting to get interested. I don't even want the game digitally anymore

Curious if Game-Key Cards get their own icon or if they just use the default Switch 2 one, since the actual cartridges are marked with a key emblem. Definitely a much-needed change with how virtual game cards were implemented, though

Does anyone else think it might be a good idea to make it a requirement that you need a Nintendo Life account to submit user scores? I discovered recently that you don't need one to vote in these polls, and that does seem to be opening the door to some reviewbombing, even if it would also rein in the sample size. Things do seem pretty reasonable here, though (Musou games certainly aren't for everyone) - just didn't know where else it made sense to mention it.

@RumandCohibas The full game will have a slower speed setting available!

@EarthboundBenjy It's not actually a completely dead practice. Pokemon Friends was recently found to be a reskin of another mobile game from the same developer released in 2016, called Think! Think!

@Sindayl It is 60fps as long as you're not playing with 3 or 4 people.
https://www.sega.com/news/sonic-racing-crossworlds-nintendo-switch-2-faq

@Orpheus79V I'm just glad there's even a 60fps option to begin with, since I specifically waited for a potential Switch 2 version

@CupidStunt It's all but confirmed that they sat on Z-A for some time to prepare the Switch 2 Edition. Some people, including a good friend of mine, were able to claim Gold Points on their Switch 1 physical copies, which means they would've had to have been manufactured before the cutoff for them at the end of March

I'll be picking up the physical day one. It's too bad that Nintendo Switch 2 Edition cartridges force a download of the entire upgrade pack to internal memory if the game receives any other updates, but I'll gladly support getting any physical release at all, especially when this seems to be an excellent port (the trailer was uploaded in 1440p, and it sounds like it defaults to 60fps, so it might have parity with most of Nintendo's Switch 2 output)

@the_beaver Shin'en's like 3 guys lol, there's no reason to acquire them

Well, if Go is any indication, we'll finally get another one of the dedicated trading card RPGs on Switch 2 sometime this generation to capitalize on the success of TCG Pocket

@Medic_alert Such a cash grab that all the substantial new content is free and the next-gen paid upgrade is the cheapest one they've put out so far, focusing just on the enhancements and new additions only viable on Switch 2

Where's the Switch 2 Edition of Ball x Pit?

I can't even be excited for this because they still won't let you change the Resident Representative, and I don't want to essentially start my save over to play the game on Switch 2. Sticking to 30fps is also ridiculous. At least it's only a $5 upgrade and most of the new stuff is free