Prizm

"let's not forget there's no Nintendo Land port on Switch"
Thank god 😆

Those characters all look the same. Actually there's an idea... Palette Swap Smash 👍

lol love it 😆 Love the enthusiasm to not just complain about all the characters, but exercise skills to totally mod them out 😄

I enjoyed the Dig games. Quest got boring and it was the same music over and over.

Such a bummer.

The subtitle of this article 😂😂

NL reviews seem to consistently lack enough screenshots that help illustrate what they're talking about. Is there a technical issue that stops you from putting a screenshot or two after every paragraph?

Maybe I missed something, but I didn't see any screenshots that show the menu or the power meter.

Oh that's right, I remember the rocket. There was also a missile version, I guess if you didn't do as well 😆

There was also another scene with musicians and dancers standing on different platforms. Like there was one character with a violin etc.

I'm surprised I ever got these cutscenes. I only played Tetris out of resentment when I was sick of playing my few other games 😅

Yay, Larry is still around

Meanwhile, Roblox (which offers a relatively safe environment for young gamers to play together), is raking in hundreds of millions a year and the company is currently worth more than UbiSoft and EA.

Nintendo is in a perfect position to take advantage of this younger demographic that wants to play online together, but they keep dropping the ball 🤦‍♂️

The lighting/glow effects are ok, but all the other graphics are flat, washed out, and outdated af 😕

@Northwind - What you describe is also a possible outcome, although just because Nintendo thinks it might be better to bail out of a 'Pro' release, it may not be possible due to contracts/obligations.

Either way, my overall point is that the situation may not be as simple as "The Switch is doing well, therefore we're not going to release a Switch Pro".

@Luigisghost669 @Bobb @anoyonmus @Northwind @Madder128 @GrailUK @Yosher
"Why come out with a new Switch when the current one is doing so well?"
Perhaps one reason is that they had a 'Pro' ready to go when COVID caused current Switch sales to go through the roof. They (theoretically) delayed the Pro as a result, however they can only delay the release for so long due to business/cost/contract reasons.

For example, if they had it prepared and don't release it, they would have wasted all that R&D time and costs, plus they would've made contracts with part manufacturers that they were going to buy x amount of LED screens, x amount of CPUs, etc.
If they face those consequences and delay the release indefinitely, then the new hardware design they just settled on gets outdated and they're back to the drawing board with R&D, obtaining updated parts, new negotiations etc. So they may just release it anyway due to such reasons, even though the current Switch is doing so well.

I genuinely felt cheated with some of Mario Kart's ridiculously short tracks.

Such a shame that Sonic All-Stars Transformed is not on Switch.. I didn't give a ___ about the characters, but the PC version was a great game. The tracks were a healthy length with good variety. The transformation aspect also kept things interesting.

@BlubberWhale - If Chrono Trigger doesn't hold your attention, then I honestly don't think any JRPG will.

Earthbound and Mana are the only other ones I could handle for any length of time. The early Final Fantasy storylines are boring af and the later FF sequels are just self-indulgent look-how-epic-I-am tosser material.

The thing I enjoy most about Switch firmware updates is the sarcastic comments 😆

Switch update 13.0.0:

• Corrected Switch firmware version number to 1.3.0 to reflect a more accurate representation of actual firmware updates.

Graphics are outdated af - just look at the flat ground texture 🙄
The original had a couple memorable music tunes, this music is a generic snorefest.

Pac Man sucks. These days it's just a cheap IP used in movies/games to make a quick buck.

While I played Castlevania Adventure and the 16-bit games the most and generally enjoyed them, I always felt the controls/physics for 2D Castlevania sucked (I never got into the 3D ones).

The 2D controls feel sluggish, your character flies backwards when he gets hit (and often ends up down a hole), and any time precision platform jumping is needed, you better douse yourself with holy water and start praying. Because chances are you'll miss a platform or the game won't respond properly your jump command. This was particularly on the SNES games.

@chardir said "Why is internet speed linked to graphical performance?"
Good question. Don't tell me they're streaming the game at 540p!? 🤔

Is that what it takes to get a decent frame rate on Switch now? Developers are just giving up on Switch's hardware and doing game streaming instead?? 😆

@WolfyWardark - Ahh, that's where I'd seen a recent review of this series, Techmoan!

hmm yeah it looks at least 10 years old 🤨

@scully1888 - ahh ok 👍

Dialog boxes? With phrases like "speed merchants"? 🤦‍♂️

If you're making a game aimed at younger kids, try to avoid dialog boxes because little kids CAN'T READ WELL (or at all). And don't use language like "merchants", sheesh.

Any dialog should be spoken and the vocabulary needs to be suitable. This really frustrating me when I had a child that age. Nintendo games in particular consistently relied on incessant dialog boxes without spoken word (or it was just audible gibberish talk). This really kills the experience for younger kids.

I don't play, but how did they suddenly figure out how to increase both resolution and framerate? 🤔 I wonder if it's an upscale gimmick.

Meh, I don't think there's anything wrong in general in making a game available for a limited time.

If this was pre-digital, it would just be a limited production run. Sometimes it's good to make some things limited to help preserve brand quality. Personally I think this is why Nintendo is doing it.

Though I'll admit that Nintendo's strategy is often poorly executed or aimed in the wrong direction.

30fps or 60fps? 🤔

Serious question, as I'm curious to know if any third party developer has pulled off a 60fps racer on Switch... regardless of how crap the game is.

Yess, day one buy 👍

@RudyC3 "They already had trouble getting their current Pinball FX running at 1080p 60FPS on Switch"

Gosh, seriously? Are they raytracing the ball or something 😆

The fact that YouTube started threatening to disable monetization for inactive channels probably forced his hand.

Now you have to make sure you upload at least once per 6 months.

When I saved up and bought the original Gameboy as a kid, I felt betrayed that Nintendo included such a lame game with it, especially when the NES came with Super Mario Bros. To me, Tetris was a game for noobs and uncool parents.

I didn't have an NES so I was dying for my own Mario game. Anyway, I made sure I had enough extra money to buy Mario Land on day one to make up for it.

Looking back, including Tetris was definitely a smart business move, but I was sure pissed at the time 🤔

It's a lot easier to get unique stuff like that these days with eBay and other boutique sites. But back in the day you'd be lucky to get any item without actually going there.

I don't have this game. Would you say it gets pretty good/useful updates, or is that a rare exception?

I really wanted to like this game, but the sprites are too small, even by NES standards. It's like being permanently in a 'mini-map' mode with no way of returning to a normal view. I admire the programmer's effort though.

When it comes to games in 8-bit style, I can go back as far as the NES. Anything Atari-looking is just too primitive and ugly for me to take seriously.

I still get that half-baked bargain bin controller vibe.

Never heard of this game, but it was an interesting read. Thanks.

Looking forward to Nintendo filling in that massive bezel on the Switch. That big-ass bezel was already outdated on day one. No need to change the chassis size at all, a bigger screen will fit nicely as-is.

Both are horrible with those dead-eyed, expression-less models, but Japan's looks unfinished with its white background.

These top 10/20 charts don't mean anything if they're not counting digital sales. It's inaccurate data.

@westman98 - You'd risk your job, potential legal trouble, and future employment opportunities for a few thousand bucks? 🤔

Maybe you were just exaggerating, but this guy seems very near-sighted if he is indeed an EA employee.

There is nothing surprising here... Japan's labour/workplace 'laws' do not have a good reputation.

"absolutely out-gunned by teams of players who are hunting you down at 4K/60FPS"
Nope, the fanboys here can keep that cross-play setting on, since they keep insisting that 30fps is perfectly fine 🙄

All console players are handicapped anyway. The fastest way to play first-person shooters is still keyboard and mouse.

@Bunkerneath - The names were shortened down for the character select on SNES, so it's not something new 👍

I hate the note changes in the theme song, makes it sound like some horrible sing-song schoolyard rhyme 🙄

And those fighting sfx at the end were horribly weak. That'll probably improve though, SOR4 was very polished.

Nothing wrong with having a couple exclusives that run on the better hardware. Nintendo kept the 3DS on life-support for a ridiculously long time, so no, the original Switch won't be going anywhere for a while.
Though if I were Nintendo, I'd do at least one non-Mario/Zelda exclusive to show off the hardware and boost sales. Something like Metroid 4.

And any 4K feature will just be clever upscaling from 1080p, unless it's a very basic game.

They don't need to make the Switch bigger, they'll probably just reduce the bezel. That horrible bezel was outdated even back when Switch was released.

Funko figures are unappealing.

"Here's one plush celebrating the anniversary, plus a bunch of unrelated random pokemon junk" 😅

But serious question - Is Pikachu's party hat a throwback to Smash Bros 64, or did he actually wear one in the anime?

"Birthday suit" edition? 😄

I'd love to buy a Switch after selling my original a couple years back.. But I'm not buying again and putting up with outdated hardware and 30fps games until Nintendo releases some kind of Switch Pro.