Sega is probably taking very direct inspiration from Bowser's Fury here - the old game will run well and the new one will suffer from performance issues! (Except it'll probably be 720p/30fps for Sonic Generations and adaptive resolution/framerate for Shadow Generations, and not 60fps across the board for 3D World and 30fps in handheld for Bowser's Fury)
@andykara2003 I've heard that turning up input sensitivity in the settings makes the game feel very close to the originals. I think Banana Rumble feels great as is, though
I prepurchased Arranger after the reviews dropped, and I'll grab Bo eventually - just waiting on a few giveaways I entered, basically, but I've read enough to where I think getting it on Switch should be fine
@GarlicGuzzler @Yosher @RetroGames The price given is how much the set will cost in Singapore dollars. Apparently a cost of $130 USD is being rumored for the US release
Kind of surprising news, especially because it felt like Soliani and the Mario + Rabbids team were gearing up to tackle a 3D Rayman project. Wonder where he'll go from here, and if it'll still end up involving Nintendo.
I'm surprised this review didn't mention the involvement of AM2R alumni as NintendoLife's initial coverage of the game did. I feel like that alone would serve as an endorsement for a lot of people here.
Squid Shock has stated that they'll be working to add QOL features and improve performance post-launch (and that they'll keep working on the game despite the Humble Games situation), so hopefully the Switch version's framerate drops can be ironed out even if they're not terribly intrusive
Really surprising that since this lawsuit was filed, Nintendo turned to Eighting - owned by Colopl - for Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Pikmin 4 codevelopment, and after Colopl bought Mages during development of the Famicom Detective Club remakes, they still turned to them for Emio (according to the New Zealand Ratings Association). Maybe it's because both are subsidiaries Nintendo had worked with before Colopl acquired them? No hard feelings, perhaps?
It's a great concept, I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed it already, and I absolutely wouldn't call it carelessly made with things like the really great challenge names and manuals for the hardest challenge each game has to offer. But it's definitely a slight package, and I can't help but wish it was being executed with games that felt better to play. Hopefully we at least get a SNES edition, which would help the game break away from the shadow of NES Remix. Either way, it's the closest thing to both a new IP and small eShop release we've had in a while, and those have definitely been missed lately (as much as I commend Nintendo for delivering so many IP revivals in the Switch era instead), so I'm happy to own it.
I wonder if Tiny Wonder will be tasked with Chibi-Robo itself in the future. For a series that never did well and kind of lost its way after the first game (at least in the West, since Japan got a pretty faithful followup on DS), Nintendo sure seemed interested in keeping it going. Now that the dust has settled a bit, and we have a clear successor to Skip...who knows? Maybe ko-Robo would end up retroactively folded into the series, even?
@Not_Soos Bowser's Fury appears to have been direct inspiration for the approach Sonic Team's taking with Shadow Generations. Just look at the demo's title screen - the setup is basically the same
Where's Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus? I might still spring for that on Steam, but I'm hearing more good things about it running fairly smoothly on Switch than not, and I imagine they'll optimize it more post-launch since Squid Shock's already expressed interest in content updates.
I have the Deluxe Set of Nintendo World Championships on the way, but it'll be late. (I'll probably do order pickups for preorders for the foreseeable future now.)
Had high hopes for SCHiM, but the reviews confirmed my fears from the demo: the game stretches its concept pretty thin and lacks a lot of mechanical variety. It'll need to be pretty cheap for me to check it out now.
I mean, they've spent the last year adding content to Gravity Circuit for free. I'm not bummed there's not paid DLC (and won't be according to the developers; they're actually done with all non-bug fix updates now). Excellent game more people should play.
Aggregate score is on par with NES Remix 2's, which I find amusing - not only did the NES Remix games review worse than I think most of us remember, but it just feels silly that people are acting like the reception confirms Nintendo World Championships is strictly worse. The bulk of the NES Remix games was straightforward snapshots of NES titles as well, guys. It wasn't all just cool remixed content. At least we have a speedrunning angle here with online and local multiplayer modes. And it feels silly calling this a cashgrab as well, just because they seem to have gone to the huge effort of creating a bunch of miniature instruction manuals for the challenges and seemingly licensing out the titles of all NES releases (not sure how they'd give you the option of saying Jeopardy! is your favorite NES game otherwise).
I hope this game does well enough to greenlight versions based on later Nintendo libraries. SNES and GBA games in particular have aged well enough to where they'd be really cool to see in this format, though Game Boy/Game Boy Color and N64 are probably on the table as well.
"After you've finished the game, you may find yourself wanting more of the adventures of Badguy Murderman, and we don't blame you — but we're not sure if Nintendo is aiming to continue this 33-year-old series, given that Capcom's Ace Attorney production has slowed wayyyy down, and future Professor Layton games are all but dead in the West after Level-5 pulled out of their North American office. The future looks dark for murder mystery fans, it seems. But, if Famicom Detective Club does well — and it really deserves to — then perhaps Nintendo will see it as a worthy successor to the throne that it built in the first place." This is especially funny in hindsight, now that we know Emio is a new Famicom Detective Club
I've been wanting more smaller releases akin to this for a while. The Wii, Wii U, and 3DS all had a lot more Nintendo digital exclusives compared to the Switch, and HAL has basically carried the Switch lineup outside of NSO and a few indie-developed games. So even though I'd be a lot more interested in a game of this sort being made for any system other than the NES (especially the SNES or GBA), and it's not quite the same because there is a cartridge release happening, I ended up getting the Deluxe Set for the novelty of having an actually somewhat rare physical Switch game from Nintendo and the golden cartridge. (Plus, Nintendo really hasn't given me much this year I've found to be worth actually picking up, so it was easier to swallow the $60 price tag for that.)
@WaveBoy Have you heard of Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo? It's another upcoming 2D Zelda-like game (taking inspiration from the GB/GBA entries) that sets itself apart when it comes to the world and elements of the gameplay akin to what Mina appears to be doing
It is weird there's no Switch listing up yet, but I wouldn't read into it too much. Also, if you're unfamiliar with the general indie ecosystem on PC, a lot of games get prerelease demos that aren't on consoles, to the extent that I was surprised to see Antonblast and Europa have them on Switch earlier this year. Many demos don't make it to console, and some are even pulled before a game releases, or only available during events like Steam Next Fest. (You can usually get around this by launching the application directly through your OS and not via Steam if you have the demo already, though). Squid Shock has expressed interest in trying to get a permanent demo up across all platforms, though, after the full launch.
@anoyonmus Games don't always get pre-release pages. And if they were able to move the release date up early this month, they'd be able to communicate on whether any specific version would release later too
Squid Shock's actually announced that Bo will be out on July 17th now. Hoping it runs well on Switch, but I'll gladly get it Day 1 on Steam if I need to
Keep in mind that Bloober stating that Project M is intended to be published under Broken Mirror Games kind of contradicts how Emio (or whatever it ends up being called) is clearly published by Nintendo, as the teaser capped off with their logo (which does not happen for third-party trailers or exclusives outside of the ones they've funded, like the Bayonetta games and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3) and, more importantly, they immediately rolled out a Japanese website for it as well.
I wonder if there's a chance this is Tarsier's new IP. It's hard to say because their teases have been just as vague as the one for Emio, but it would add up well:
They established a relationship with Nintendo through working on The Stretchers.
They've moved on from Little Nightmares (mostly because Embracer bought them and Bandai Namco kept the IP, but still).
They haven't released anything since Little Nightmares II.
They've already done the trope of a character wearing a cardboard bag over their head.
They might well be using AI to try and protect their intellectual property rights, though, considering all the brazen and weird takedowns as of late. The Pokemon Company already is, via Tracer AI, anyways, and while they're basically their own entity despite Nintendo co-owning them, I get the feeling Nintendo's ruthless legal department is all for having DMCA notices sent out automatically
@anoyonmus I don't clearly remember and searching around didn't help me uncover any details. I'd say the difficulty was decently challenging, though, with some harder platforming
I checked out the Steam Next Fest demos for Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus, SCHiM, and Arranger. Bo was an absolute blast and is easily the game I'm most excited for this month. The movement was outstanding and the level and boss design was excellent as well. SCHiM has a lot of potential, and I clicked with the music and visuals a fair bit, but I'm a bit concerned the full game won't do quite enough to make its levels stand apart. Hopefully there are some more new mechanics sprinkled throughout, because by the end of the demo, I was already itching for the game to mix things up a little more. Arranger is likely a Day 1 buy from me as well - it took me a bit to get in sync with the game's design, and I still had a hard time figuring some things out, but it was really novel and enjoyable.
I'd say Shadows Over Loathing, but it's been out on Switch digitally since April 2023. Waited nearly a year for the physical and it managed to be worth the wait.
I've never been good about keeping up with new games in a given year, though. I voted for Animal Well because I had a blast with it, but it's also kind of the only truly new release this year I've sunk a lot of time into. I've started Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, Penny's Big Breakaway (on Steam), and Berserk Boy, but I have yet to fire up The Pedestrian, qomp2, Runner2, Pocket Card Jockey Ride On!, Pepper Grinder, Pentiment, Corn Kidz 64 (this is more because of the input lag they still haven't addressed), and Braid.
Would've picked up Beyond Good and Evil if it was running at 60fps, as any sixth-generation game should on Switch. I expected better from the developers behind the Nier Automata Switch port and the ones who just built Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown around Switch hardware to ensure a smooth 60fps experience.
@Samalik There was one rumor that they're remastering or remaking F-Zero GX, yes
@BTB20 It's not impossible that they could be co-developing the project to some extent (Retro Studios codeveloped Mario Kart 7, so it's not impossible for Nintendo's first-party Western studios to work with Japanese studios)...just not the most likely thing. ILCA's a large studio, but they also just released Sand Land and One Piece Odyssey not too long ago, while they've also been working on Pokemon projects (they contributed to Scarlet/Violet) and a new Ace Combat. Definitely seems like they've been pretty busy, whereas Next Level's only released a new Mario Strikers this decade, and supposedly around half of the team credited on Luigi's Mansion 3 didn't even contribute to it. We'll just have to wait and see, but it's hard to imagine a better studio for AlphaDream alumni to collaborate with between their animation prowess (which Brothership certainly rivals even if they're not involved) and background developing Luigi's Mansion, which lends itself well to designing RPG areas and puzzles (especially with LM3 having many puzzles built around using two characters together).
This wasn't developed by Next Level Games. Tantalus Media, who previously worked on Twilight Princess HD and Skyward Sword HD, was confirmed as the developer. Next Level may have supervised, but they shouldn't be touted as the developer when they weren't.
I think it's always worth looking at more than just one review, especially for releases like these where they're more niche and tied to series with mixed track records, and they're definitely a bit all over the place despite the 75 aggregate. Some actually liked the multiplayer; NintendoEverything went so far as to declare it superior to the modes from the GameCube games. A few said the campaign felt "by-the-numbers," though. Overall, though, the package seems solid, especially with all the feedback that the developers took into account from Banana Mania, and it's probably the game that'll suit my tastes the best because nothing is locked behind an arcade mode. Granted, there isn't a way to play the levels in similar gauntlets at all, but being able to save and back out apparently whenever is very appealing to me.
@sketchturner I think you might be in luck, since Tanabe discussed what he wanted to do with Prime 4 with Eurogamer in a 2015 interview and mentioned wanting to go back to the concept of Echoes, but with a different spin put on it: instead of a light and dark world, he mentioned wanting to have you traverse the same location in different time periods
@Zacattack99 This is incorrect information that's been doing the rounds for some time now. While a good chunk of AlphaDream alumni have gone unaccounted for since the closure of the studio, 11-13 have since wound up at ILCA, with some others also going to Mistwalker (at least for a time). https://youtu.be/_Qmv0BWVEe4?si=a-66sTDDmrI8nYbB https://x.com/Lizard_yyy/status/1804057463294931197?t=gUC7-igwwFTbdSWm5uVJpg&s=19 Nintendo and Monolith Soft only got one known employee each. A few Nintendo affiliates - namely Good-Feel and indieszero - also got one employee each.
@Zeebor15 @JoeSooper The Mysterious Murasame Castle was like the Kid Icarus to the original Zelda, reusing its engine while making something more fast-paced. It seems like the perfect project to hand PlatinumGames...at least depending on how many Clover Studio alumni are still there, seeing as Okami is still considered among the best Zelda-style games - if not the best. A 3D reboot with their approach to combat integrated with the design of traditional Zelda sounds very appealing indeed.
Still kind of waiting to see if Banana Rumble really is as good as it looks, but odds are I'll be picking that one up. They really seem to have listened to feedback from Banana Mania
@Otoemetry I think it's a bit too early for one, and it was in the Japanese version of the April Indie World as well. SCHiM was in the US version of that Indie World, so for whatever reason the Bo developers just got dropped from both Western showcases
@PinderSchloss That's definitely fair. While I believe Aonuma or one of the other Zelda team leads has stated that the current direction of the series is what they've always wanted to try and do with it, but couldn't accomplish due to past hardware constraints, I wish they would at least recognize the merit of the more linear design of the past instead of going "well, why would you want the old style now that we can do something more grand?" I've never gotten as into Zelda as I would've liked - the Four Swords Anniversary Edition is the only game in the series I've finished - but there is a lot that is appealing about the older games to me, whereas I've found the open-world ones to be a bit less intriguing just because of their massive scope (personally hoping that the next one tries to focus around really enjoyable movement or traversal, but generally just running places and doing everything based around a stamina meter isn't terribly satisfying for me). Still willing to give them a shot again, but I do find Echoes of Wisdom exciting because it's translating some of the more expressive elements of open-world Zelda into the 2D style, which has always clicked with me more. I'm not surprised that's the direction they're taking after A Link Between Worlds let you tackle a lot of the dungeons in any order. I was hoping to see Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD finally materialize as well so I could try and sink my teeth into 3D Zelda more fully, but I'm also very happy to get something new for 2D. Hopefully in the future, someone at Nintendo will champion the old style of Zelda enough for us to get new entries that expand on the classic formula, 2D and 3D (though there are at least a fair few indies that have been riffing on 2D Zelda in recent years, with more on the horizon like Mina the Hollower, The Plucky Squire, and Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo). Glad you're at least willing to have more of an open mind, even if Echoes of Wisdom is not exactly what you would've hoped for. I've definitely had moments before where my initial response to a game reveal was clouded by negativity, only for me to warm up to them over time. In retrospect, I kind of can't believe how disappointed I was in Smash Ultimate at first just because I was hoping for more new content, haha.
@PinderSchloss I think that, based on Nintendo's track record of prototyping ideas and then building games and their concepts around them, this game originated with attempts to bring emergent gameplay from BOTW and TOTK into a 2D Zelda. Once the rough idea of the echo concept came about, the developers figured that it didn't quite suit Link, but that getting crafty with elements of the game world and enemies was befitting of the Triforce of Wisdom, and decided from there that they should build the game with Zelda as the protagonist. Nintendo was likely aware of the longrunning requests to make her playable, of course, but they wouldn't just do it for the sake of saying "Zelda's playable in a mainline game." That's not really how they roll.
I think you're also fixating too much on the sequence where Zelda is using the Moblins to attack for her, and ignoring her attacking directly with a rock, or using enemy Echoes for traversal, or even chaining Echoes together by baiting some birds with meat, only to unleash an enemy on them. I imagine the design philosophy was trying to infuse the combat with stronger puzzle elements while still allowing for open-ended design. The UI does look unchanged from Tears of the Kingdom, which is unfortunate, but we'll just have to see how that fares in the context of a 2D Zelda. I think that time and time again, Nintendo has proven they know how to design games. I doubt that they won't leverage the Echo mechanic to explore a bunch of different ideas. And with only a brief overview to go off of, who's to say Zelda won't get a few magical abilities to tie into offense (probably through Echoes) over the course of the game just yet?
I also don't understand why you see this as like Princess Peach: Showtime, which indeed deliberately targeted a younger audience. It looks like it's been littered with callbacks to games across the series, first of all - those would all be lost on the target audience if it skewed towards a young female demographic, and Showtime had only a few references across essentially the entire game. But it also doesn't look like the design is necessarily dumbed down. Echoes react to different situations in different ways, as we see in the segment where Zelda needs to block blowing wind - it's a matter of piecing together what works best for the obstacle you're facing. Overall challenge is certainly a concern, but Zelda has pretty consistently delivered on difficulty, and there very well might be a harder difficulty anyways. Is the artstyle influencing your conclusion? Because every 2D Zelda has adopted a clear cartoon style post-Game Boy Color. The current look is just different from the Toon style that was used across the GBA and DS.
I think you might be able to find at least some semblance of what you're looking for in Cadence of Hyrule, if you haven't played that. The playable Zelda there is decked out with magical attacks, and the game's certainly not easy. There is an option to turn off the rhythm mechanics as well, making it so that the movement of things coincides with your own. It's a spinoff, but it sounds like that doesn't matter much to you if you've decided Echoes of Wisdom must be a spinoff.
I wasn't expecting this to get a physical release to begin with, and I'm perfectly content sticking with the digital copy. Not sure why people are acting like Limited Run's the one bringing the game back.
@dcon_dot_exe References to basketball were datamined from the Online Play Test in early 2022. Dodgeball was also referenced, but it's unclear if that'll materialize
Considering Forever's spotty track record with full remakes, giving them very basic remasters seems like a safe way for Nintendo to leverage their resources while ensuring the end results are solid and giving their other partners more leeway to work on other projects.
This is slightly disappointing, given it means Minish Cap is still the last traditional 2D game with a wholly new overworld, but...I mean, it's not 1:1, and there seem to be a lot of new areas. If it's a bit more akin to how Zelda II had a section of the map dedicated to remaking the original's overworld in miniature, I definitely won't have any gripes with it.
Comments 1,805
Re: Sonic X Shadow Generations Estimated Switch File Size Revealed
Sega is probably taking very direct inspiration from Bowser's Fury here - the old game will run well and the new one will suffer from performance issues! (Except it'll probably be 720p/30fps for Sonic Generations and adaptive resolution/framerate for Shadow Generations, and not 60fps across the board for 3D World and 30fps in handheld for Bowser's Fury)
Re: Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble Receives Another Update, Here's What's Included
@andykara2003 I've heard that turning up input sensitivity in the settings makes the game feel very close to the originals. I think Banana Rumble feels great as is, though
Re: Nintendo Download: 25th July (North America)
I prepurchased Arranger after the reviews dropped, and I'll grab Bo eventually - just waiting on a few giveaways I entered, basically, but I've read enough to where I think getting it on Switch should be fine
Re: Super Mario World Lego Set Revealed, Here's A First Look
@GarlicGuzzler @Yosher @RetroGames The price given is how much the set will cost in Singapore dollars. Apparently a cost of $130 USD is being rumored for the US release
Re: Mario + Rabbids Director Davide Soliani Leaves Ubisoft After 25 Years
Kind of surprising news, especially because it felt like Soliani and the Mario + Rabbids team were gearing up to tackle a 3D Rayman project. Wonder where he'll go from here, and if it'll still end up involving Nintendo.
Re: Review: Bō: Path Of The Teal Lotus (Switch) - Charm Meets Challenge In This Gorgeous Metroidvania
I'm surprised this review didn't mention the involvement of AM2R alumni as NintendoLife's initial coverage of the game did. I feel like that alone would serve as an endorsement for a lot of people here.
Squid Shock has stated that they'll be working to add QOL features and improve performance post-launch (and that they'll keep working on the game despite the Humble Games situation), so hopefully the Switch version's framerate drops can be ironed out even if they're not terribly intrusive
Re: Five Years Later, Nintendo's Lawsuit Against 'White Cat Project' Has Finally Been Settled
Really surprising that since this lawsuit was filed, Nintendo turned to Eighting - owned by Colopl - for Pikmin 3 Deluxe and Pikmin 4 codevelopment, and after Colopl bought Mages during development of the Famicom Detective Club remakes, they still turned to them for Emio (according to the New Zealand Ratings Association). Maybe it's because both are subsidiaries Nintendo had worked with before Colopl acquired them? No hard feelings, perhaps?
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition?
It's a great concept, I'm surprised at how much I've enjoyed it already, and I absolutely wouldn't call it carelessly made with things like the really great challenge names and manuals for the hardest challenge each game has to offer. But it's definitely a slight package, and I can't help but wish it was being executed with games that felt better to play. Hopefully we at least get a SNES edition, which would help the game break away from the shadow of NES Remix. Either way, it's the closest thing to both a new IP and small eShop release we've had in a while, and those have definitely been missed lately (as much as I commend Nintendo for delivering so many IP revivals in the Switch era instead), so I'm happy to own it.
Re: Ex Chibi-Robo Devs Announce Spiritual Successor 'koROBO'
I wonder if Tiny Wonder will be tasked with Chibi-Robo itself in the future. For a series that never did well and kind of lost its way after the first game (at least in the West, since Japan got a pretty faithful followup on DS), Nintendo sure seemed interested in keeping it going. Now that the dust has settled a bit, and we have a clear successor to Skip...who knows? Maybe ko-Robo would end up retroactively folded into the series, even?
Re: Sonic X Shadow Generations Showcases Side-By-Side Of Old & New Stages
@Not_Soos Bowser's Fury appears to have been direct inspiration for the approach Sonic Team's taking with Shadow Generations. Just look at the demo's title screen - the setup is basically the same
Re: Nintendo Download: 18th July (North America)
Where's Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus? I might still spring for that on Steam, but I'm hearing more good things about it running fairly smoothly on Switch than not, and I imagine they'll optimize it more post-launch since Squid Shock's already expressed interest in content updates.
I have the Deluxe Set of Nintendo World Championships on the way, but it'll be late. (I'll probably do order pickups for preorders for the foreseeable future now.)
Had high hopes for SCHiM, but the reviews confirmed my fears from the demo: the game stretches its concept pretty thin and lacks a lot of mechanical variety. It'll need to be pretty cheap for me to check it out now.
Re: Gravity Circuit Celebrates 1st Anniversary With Discounted Deluxe Edition
I mean, they've spent the last year adding content to Gravity Circuit for free. I'm not bummed there's not paid DLC (and won't be according to the developers; they're actually done with all non-bug fix updates now). Excellent game more people should play.
Re: Review: Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition (Switch) - Speed-Focused And Slight, But Addictive
Aggregate score is on par with NES Remix 2's, which I find amusing - not only did the NES Remix games review worse than I think most of us remember, but it just feels silly that people are acting like the reception confirms Nintendo World Championships is strictly worse. The bulk of the NES Remix games was straightforward snapshots of NES titles as well, guys. It wasn't all just cool remixed content. At least we have a speedrunning angle here with online and local multiplayer modes. And it feels silly calling this a cashgrab as well, just because they seem to have gone to the huge effort of creating a bunch of miniature instruction manuals for the challenges and seemingly licensing out the titles of all NES releases (not sure how they'd give you the option of saying Jeopardy! is your favorite NES game otherwise).
I hope this game does well enough to greenlight versions based on later Nintendo libraries. SNES and GBA games in particular have aged well enough to where they'd be really cool to see in this format, though Game Boy/Game Boy Color and N64 are probably on the table as well.
Re: Review: Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind (Switch) - This Is The Spooky One
"After you've finished the game, you may find yourself wanting more of the adventures of Badguy Murderman, and we don't blame you — but we're not sure if Nintendo is aiming to continue this 33-year-old series, given that Capcom's Ace Attorney production has slowed wayyyy down, and future Professor Layton games are all but dead in the West after Level-5 pulled out of their North American office. The future looks dark for murder mystery fans, it seems. But, if Famicom Detective Club does well — and it really deserves to — then perhaps Nintendo will see it as a worthy successor to the throne that it built in the first place."
This is especially funny in hindsight, now that we know Emio is a new Famicom Detective Club
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition?
I've been wanting more smaller releases akin to this for a while. The Wii, Wii U, and 3DS all had a lot more Nintendo digital exclusives compared to the Switch, and HAL has basically carried the Switch lineup outside of NSO and a few indie-developed games. So even though I'd be a lot more interested in a game of this sort being made for any system other than the NES (especially the SNES or GBA), and it's not quite the same because there is a cartridge release happening, I ended up getting the Deluxe Set for the novelty of having an actually somewhat rare physical Switch game from Nintendo and the golden cartridge. (Plus, Nintendo really hasn't given me much this year I've found to be worth actually picking up, so it was easier to swallow the $60 price tag for that.)
Re: Lunark Developer's Next Game Is A Bite-Sized Take On Link's Awakening
@WaveBoy Have you heard of Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo? It's another upcoming 2D Zelda-like game (taking inspiration from the GB/GBA entries) that sets itself apart when it comes to the world and elements of the gameplay akin to what Mina appears to be doing
Re: Bō: Path Of The Teal Lotus Reveals Contributions From Xenoblade Chronicles Composer
@anoyonmus
https://x.com/PlayHumbleGames/status/1808155811958411685
It is weird there's no Switch listing up yet, but I wouldn't read into it too much. Also, if you're unfamiliar with the general indie ecosystem on PC, a lot of games get prerelease demos that aren't on consoles, to the extent that I was surprised to see Antonblast and Europa have them on Switch earlier this year. Many demos don't make it to console, and some are even pulled before a game releases, or only available during events like Steam Next Fest. (You can usually get around this by launching the application directly through your OS and not via Steam if you have the demo already, though). Squid Shock has expressed interest in trying to get a permanent demo up across all platforms, though, after the full launch.
Re: Bō: Path Of The Teal Lotus Reveals Contributions From Xenoblade Chronicles Composer
@anoyonmus Games don't always get pre-release pages. And if they were able to move the release date up early this month, they'd be able to communicate on whether any specific version would release later too
Re: Bō: Path Of The Teal Lotus Reveals Contributions From Xenoblade Chronicles Composer
Squid Shock's actually announced that Bo will be out on July 17th now. Hoping it runs well on Switch, but I'll gladly get it Day 1 on Steam if I need to
Re: Horror Dev Bloober Team Says It's Working On A New Project For Nintendo Platforms
@Zeebor15 Interesting, but they absolutely are working on a project of their own: https://x.com/TarsierStudios/status/1638526749385412609?t=Xq2-dcrvL-iUKwH4NTDuQA&s=19
Re: Horror Dev Bloober Team Says It's Working On A New Project For Nintendo Platforms
Keep in mind that Bloober stating that Project M is intended to be published under Broken Mirror Games kind of contradicts how Emio (or whatever it ends up being called) is clearly published by Nintendo, as the teaser capped off with their logo (which does not happen for third-party trailers or exclusives outside of the ones they've funded, like the Bayonetta games and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3) and, more importantly, they immediately rolled out a Japanese website for it as well.
I wonder if there's a chance this is Tarsier's new IP. It's hard to say because their teases have been just as vague as the one for Emio, but it would add up well:
Re: Sonic X Shadow Generations Website May Be Teasing A Fourth Playable Character
The burger guy statue from Adventure has been on the sidelines for far too long. So glad they're finally letting him have his time in the spotlight
Re: Don't Worry, Nintendo Likely Won't Utilise Generative AI In Its Game Development
They might well be using AI to try and protect their intellectual property rights, though, considering all the brazen and weird takedowns as of late. The Pokemon Company already is, via Tracer AI, anyways, and while they're basically their own entity despite Nintendo co-owning them, I get the feeling Nintendo's ruthless legal department is all for having DMCA notices sent out automatically
Re: Switch Online's Missions & Rewards Adds Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels Icons
@YunoboCo
...It is in Nintendo World Championships, though
Re: Switch Online's Missions & Rewards Adds Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels Icons
That cloud looks stupid. It'll be my icon for the next week
Re: Video: 10 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In July 2024
@anoyonmus I don't clearly remember and searching around didn't help me uncover any details. I'd say the difficulty was decently challenging, though, with some harder platforming
Re: Video: 10 Exciting New Games Coming To Nintendo Switch In July 2024
I checked out the Steam Next Fest demos for Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus, SCHiM, and Arranger. Bo was an absolute blast and is easily the game I'm most excited for this month. The movement was outstanding and the level and boss design was excellent as well. SCHiM has a lot of potential, and I clicked with the music and visuals a fair bit, but I'm a bit concerned the full game won't do quite enough to make its levels stand apart. Hopefully there are some more new mechanics sprinkled throughout, because by the end of the demo, I was already itching for the game to mix things up a little more. Arranger is likely a Day 1 buy from me as well - it took me a bit to get in sync with the game's design, and I still had a hard time figuring some things out, but it was really novel and enjoyable.
Re: Poll: What's Your Switch Game Of The Year Of 2024 So Far?
I'd say Shadows Over Loathing, but it's been out on Switch digitally since April 2023. Waited nearly a year for the physical and it managed to be worth the wait.
I've never been good about keeping up with new games in a given year, though. I voted for Animal Well because I had a blast with it, but it's also kind of the only truly new release this year I've sunk a lot of time into. I've started Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble, Penny's Big Breakaway (on Steam), and Berserk Boy, but I have yet to fire up The Pedestrian, qomp2, Runner2, Pocket Card Jockey Ride On!, Pepper Grinder, Pentiment, Corn Kidz 64 (this is more because of the input lag they still haven't addressed), and Braid.
Re: Nintendo Download: 27th June (North America)
Would've picked up Beyond Good and Evil if it was running at 60fps, as any sixth-generation game should on Switch. I expected better from the developers behind the Nier Automata Switch port and the ones who just built Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown around Switch hardware to ensure a smooth 60fps experience.
Re: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD Developer Has Been Revealed
@Samalik There was one rumor that they're remastering or remaking F-Zero GX, yes
@BTB20 It's not impossible that they could be co-developing the project to some extent (Retro Studios codeveloped Mario Kart 7, so it's not impossible for Nintendo's first-party Western studios to work with Japanese studios)...just not the most likely thing. ILCA's a large studio, but they also just released Sand Land and One Piece Odyssey not too long ago, while they've also been working on Pokemon projects (they contributed to Scarlet/Violet) and a new Ace Combat. Definitely seems like they've been pretty busy, whereas Next Level's only released a new Mario Strikers this decade, and supposedly around half of the team credited on Luigi's Mansion 3 didn't even contribute to it. We'll just have to wait and see, but it's hard to imagine a better studio for AlphaDream alumni to collaborate with between their animation prowess (which Brothership certainly rivals even if they're not involved) and background developing Luigi's Mansion, which lends itself well to designing RPG areas and puzzles (especially with LM3 having many puzzles built around using two characters together).
Re: Review: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Switch) - The Best Version, But Lacks Extras To Make It Essential
@PikminMarioKirby The developer is not Next Level Games. VGC reported that it's Tantalus Media.
Re: Review: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD (Switch) - The Best Version, But Lacks Extras To Make It Essential
This wasn't developed by Next Level Games. Tantalus Media, who previously worked on Twilight Princess HD and Skyward Sword HD, was confirmed as the developer. Next Level may have supervised, but they shouldn't be touted as the developer when they weren't.
Re: Game Freak Launches A New Mobile Title, But It's Not Pokémon
I imagine the fact this was co-developed with another studio means it wasn't a significant drain on Game Freak's resources
Re: Review: Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble (Switch) - Super Single-Player, But Multiplayer's A Mess
I think it's always worth looking at more than just one review, especially for releases like these where they're more niche and tied to series with mixed track records, and they're definitely a bit all over the place despite the 75 aggregate. Some actually liked the multiplayer; NintendoEverything went so far as to declare it superior to the modes from the GameCube games. A few said the campaign felt "by-the-numbers," though. Overall, though, the package seems solid, especially with all the feedback that the developers took into account from Banana Mania, and it's probably the game that'll suit my tastes the best because nothing is locked behind an arcade mode. Granted, there isn't a way to play the levels in similar gauntlets at all, but being able to save and back out apparently whenever is very appealing to me.
Re: Sega Won't Be Airing A 'Sonic Central' Broadcast This Month
I think an email would be fine. Preferable, even
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
@sketchturner I think you might be in luck, since Tanabe discussed what he wanted to do with Prime 4 with Eurogamer in a 2015 interview and mentioned wanting to go back to the concept of Echoes, but with a different spin put on it: instead of a light and dark world, he mentioned wanting to have you traverse the same location in different time periods
Re: Some Of The "Original Developers" Are Working On Mario & Luigi: Brothership
@Zacattack99 This is incorrect information that's been doing the rounds for some time now. While a good chunk of AlphaDream alumni have gone unaccounted for since the closure of the studio, 11-13 have since wound up at ILCA, with some others also going to Mistwalker (at least for a time).
https://youtu.be/_Qmv0BWVEe4?si=a-66sTDDmrI8nYbB
https://x.com/Lizard_yyy/status/1804057463294931197?t=gUC7-igwwFTbdSWm5uVJpg&s=19
Nintendo and Monolith Soft only got one known employee each. A few Nintendo affiliates - namely Good-Feel and indieszero - also got one employee each.
Re: Talking Point: Could Another Nintendo Series Take Over The 'Traditional' Zelda Template?
@Zeebor15 @JoeSooper The Mysterious Murasame Castle was like the Kid Icarus to the original Zelda, reusing its engine while making something more fast-paced. It seems like the perfect project to hand PlatinumGames...at least depending on how many Clover Studio alumni are still there, seeing as Okami is still considered among the best Zelda-style games - if not the best. A 3D reboot with their approach to combat integrated with the design of traditional Zelda sounds very appealing indeed.
Re: Nintendo Download: 20th June (North America)
Still kind of waiting to see if Banana Rumble really is as good as it looks, but odds are I'll be picking that one up. They really seem to have listened to feedback from Banana Mania
Re: Nintendo Direct June 2024: Every Announcement, Game Reveal, Trailer
@Otoemetry I think it's a bit too early for one, and it was in the Japanese version of the April Indie World as well. SCHiM was in the US version of that Indie World, so for whatever reason the Bo developers just got dropped from both Western showcases
Re: Feature: 25 Things You Might Have Missed In The Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Reveal Trailer
@PinderSchloss That's definitely fair. While I believe Aonuma or one of the other Zelda team leads has stated that the current direction of the series is what they've always wanted to try and do with it, but couldn't accomplish due to past hardware constraints, I wish they would at least recognize the merit of the more linear design of the past instead of going "well, why would you want the old style now that we can do something more grand?" I've never gotten as into Zelda as I would've liked - the Four Swords Anniversary Edition is the only game in the series I've finished - but there is a lot that is appealing about the older games to me, whereas I've found the open-world ones to be a bit less intriguing just because of their massive scope (personally hoping that the next one tries to focus around really enjoyable movement or traversal, but generally just running places and doing everything based around a stamina meter isn't terribly satisfying for me). Still willing to give them a shot again, but I do find Echoes of Wisdom exciting because it's translating some of the more expressive elements of open-world Zelda into the 2D style, which has always clicked with me more. I'm not surprised that's the direction they're taking after A Link Between Worlds let you tackle a lot of the dungeons in any order. I was hoping to see Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD finally materialize as well so I could try and sink my teeth into 3D Zelda more fully, but I'm also very happy to get something new for 2D. Hopefully in the future, someone at Nintendo will champion the old style of Zelda enough for us to get new entries that expand on the classic formula, 2D and 3D (though there are at least a fair few indies that have been riffing on 2D Zelda in recent years, with more on the horizon like Mina the Hollower, The Plucky Squire, and Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo). Glad you're at least willing to have more of an open mind, even if Echoes of Wisdom is not exactly what you would've hoped for. I've definitely had moments before where my initial response to a game reveal was clouded by negativity, only for me to warm up to them over time. In retrospect, I kind of can't believe how disappointed I was in Smash Ultimate at first just because I was hoping for more new content, haha.
Re: Nintendo Direct June 2024: Every Announcement, Game Reveal, Trailer
@Otoemetry Bo's out July 18th worldwide.
Re: Feature: 25 Things You Might Have Missed In The Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Reveal Trailer
@PinderSchloss I think that, based on Nintendo's track record of prototyping ideas and then building games and their concepts around them, this game originated with attempts to bring emergent gameplay from BOTW and TOTK into a 2D Zelda. Once the rough idea of the echo concept came about, the developers figured that it didn't quite suit Link, but that getting crafty with elements of the game world and enemies was befitting of the Triforce of Wisdom, and decided from there that they should build the game with Zelda as the protagonist. Nintendo was likely aware of the longrunning requests to make her playable, of course, but they wouldn't just do it for the sake of saying "Zelda's playable in a mainline game." That's not really how they roll.
I think you're also fixating too much on the sequence where Zelda is using the Moblins to attack for her, and ignoring her attacking directly with a rock, or using enemy Echoes for traversal, or even chaining Echoes together by baiting some birds with meat, only to unleash an enemy on them. I imagine the design philosophy was trying to infuse the combat with stronger puzzle elements while still allowing for open-ended design. The UI does look unchanged from Tears of the Kingdom, which is unfortunate, but we'll just have to see how that fares in the context of a 2D Zelda. I think that time and time again, Nintendo has proven they know how to design games. I doubt that they won't leverage the Echo mechanic to explore a bunch of different ideas. And with only a brief overview to go off of, who's to say Zelda won't get a few magical abilities to tie into offense (probably through Echoes) over the course of the game just yet?
I also don't understand why you see this as like Princess Peach: Showtime, which indeed deliberately targeted a younger audience. It looks like it's been littered with callbacks to games across the series, first of all - those would all be lost on the target audience if it skewed towards a young female demographic, and Showtime had only a few references across essentially the entire game. But it also doesn't look like the design is necessarily dumbed down. Echoes react to different situations in different ways, as we see in the segment where Zelda needs to block blowing wind - it's a matter of piecing together what works best for the obstacle you're facing. Overall challenge is certainly a concern, but Zelda has pretty consistently delivered on difficulty, and there very well might be a harder difficulty anyways. Is the artstyle influencing your conclusion? Because every 2D Zelda has adopted a clear cartoon style post-Game Boy Color. The current look is just different from the Toon style that was used across the GBA and DS.
I think you might be able to find at least some semblance of what you're looking for in Cadence of Hyrule, if you haven't played that. The playable Zelda there is decked out with magical attacks, and the game's certainly not easy. There is an option to turn off the rhythm mechanics as well, making it so that the movement of things coincides with your own. It's a spinoff, but it sounds like that doesn't matter much to you if you've decided Echoes of Wisdom must be a spinoff.
Re: Random: Welp, Now Nintendo's Going After Sheet Music
@120frames-please That's the one that was voiceover only. He didn't seem to react when mentioning Lego
Re: Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition Finally Lands On Switch Next Week
I wasn't expecting this to get a physical release to begin with, and I'm perfectly content sticking with the digital copy. Not sure why people are acting like Limited Run's the one bringing the game back.
Re: Random: Welp, Now Nintendo's Going After Sheet Music
@120frames-please
What video? The one he recently uploaded on ROMs appears to be voiceover-only.
Re: Basketball Is Dunking Onto Nintendo Switch Sports This Summer
@dcon_dot_exe References to basketball were datamined from the Online Play Test in early 2022. Dodgeball was also referenced, but it's unclear if that'll materialize
Re: Bandai Namco's Smash Bros. Studio "No Longer" Advertising Select Roles For Nintendo Projects
"One rumour" Is a job listing explicitly referring to working on a 3D action game remaster for Nintendo really a rumor
Re: Donkey Kong Country Returns Switch Dev Appears To Have Been Revealed
Considering Forever's spotty track record with full remakes, giving them very basic remasters seems like a safe way for Nintendo to leverage their resources while ensuring the end results are solid and giving their other partners more leeway to work on other projects.
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom Overworld Sure Looks Familiar, But Is It?
This is slightly disappointing, given it means Minish Cap is still the last traditional 2D game with a wholly new overworld, but...I mean, it's not 1:1, and there seem to be a lot of new areas. If it's a bit more akin to how Zelda II had a section of the map dedicated to remaking the original's overworld in miniature, I definitely won't have any gripes with it.