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@LikelySatan Thanks for the recommendation. Yeah, I love arcade racers and Nitronic Rush looks interesting. Unfortunately, for me, it seems to be PC only and I'm on Mac.

Indie arcade racers. Rise Race the Future on Switch and Hydro Thunder Hurricane on XSS.

@Sequel Thanks for mentioning Yoku. Just bought it, after playing the demo for 5 mins. It's on sale right now, so easy decision.

@riderkicker Having played HotShot and the New Star GP demo, I can say they differ quite significantly. Both have arcade race handling, but the main GP events are quite a bit longer than HS races. GP seems to be more strategic, with pit stops during the race and custom perks during a season. HS suffers from rubber band AI, which GP does not seem to have.

Just played the demo for half an hour on XSS and enjoyed it. The game has its own identity and they made the most of the low poly style. However, I can imagine not having analog triggers being a problem for gameplay.

The only time was when I traded in Link's Awakening vanilla edition for the limited edition.

For a layperson, it's not easy to tell which game is the sequel when you put them side by side. Maybe if it had been called "Mario+Rabbids 2" it would have fared better?

While I agree that Ubisoft is shooting itself in the foot with their discount policy, putting a game on sale does keep it in the spotlight. Cash flow is important for any business. People have too many games to choose from and the Nintendo e-shop doesn't lend itself particularly well to game discovery.

Completed the demo and am seriously impressed with the general feel and polish. For me, it feels too similar to the Ori games (especially Will of the Wisps) to make me want to play the full game right now. Not a criticism on the game, it's abundantly clear why it's reviewing so well.

According to the Digital Foundry video, the Switch version does not require you to sign up for an Ubisoft account in order to play. (Other platforms do.)

It already looked right up my alley (I love Middle Eastern settings), so, yeah, now I'm definitely interested. At the same time, I still have to finish Rayman Legends, so I think I'll get to that first.

EDIT: Completed the demo. While I think it does an excellent job of selling the game, it also makes me feel like I'm playing the second Ori game again. Both movement and combat (melee and ranged), and its general Metroidvania-ness, feel very similar.

@Donutman As someone in the same age range as you, I can relate to what you're describing. Life is too short to waste on what is essentially just a hobby. Excessive gaming is less visible than other types of addictions, like gambling and drinking, so there's less potential for social intervention.

Interested in Prince of Persia, since Middle-Eastern(-like) settings are right up my alley. What makes me hesitate, is recent Ubisoft games requiring you to sign up for a separate account. At least that's my experience on other platforms. I hope they don't enforce this practice on Switch as well. Not paying with my e-mail address after I already paid for the game.

@Ogbert I didn't want to sound too negative with my first comment, but the increase in movement speed in SM3DW has a noticeable effect on gameplay. As the level layouts are left untouched, the faster movement results in a tendency to overshoot jumps. Maybe the change is related to online play, who knows? If you ask me, the original plays much better.

@Ogbert I'd say, no, it's not worth it at that price, although I did enjoy it back then and am actually hoping for 3D Mario moving in this direction. Caveat is that it runs at 30fps in handheld mode and 60fps docked.

Worth mentioning is that the Switch port of SM3DW increases movement speed, so it plays somewhat differently. I prefer the Wii U version.

@AstroTheGamosian Maybe he doesn't work full-time? Demographically, people are getting older in most places in the world. Japan is a particular case, because it has had a birth deficit for decades.

@Maxz To say people are "deluded" for wanting to map out their life plan over a longer time period is a bit harsh, I think. I'd say some amount of "delusion" is a necessary state of mind in overcoming the inevitable setbacks in life.

I guess Miyamoto's 5-year time frame is based on his experience developing games. Yoshi's Island was in development for 4 years, for example, and that was back in the 90s.

Personally, I wouldn't mind another year without a successor, since I bought an OLED two months ago.

The only advantage that I can think of would be to keep up with third-party AAA games. Nintendo has anticipated this for years by focusing on third-party indie games in their Directs anyway.

The few AAA releases last year that I was interested in (RE4 Remake, Starfield, Dead Space) were underwhelming anyway, so, personally, I couldn't care less about the lack of third-party AAA.

The original GC version was my favourite game ever, so I voted Metroid Prime shadow drop. Because money was tight back in the early 00's, I had to sell my copies of MP1 and MP2, which I deeply regretted. Replaying the game 20 years later just confirms that it was still the best game ever. That is, until TOTK. This year was just excellent for Switch. If next year brings the Switch 2, then we can say this generation went out with a bang.

Weapon degradation was my least favourite feature in BOTW, but I like how they addressed it with Fuse. They really did listen to the feedback. But instead of taking the suggestions literally (i.e. remove weapons degradation), they incorporated it into the gameplay.

Browsing the back catalogue brought me to Red Faction Guerilla. The destruction physics hold up well. Completed the main campaign back when the game was new, so now just playing the bonus missions for a few hours of mindless, but incredibly fun, entertainment.

Also playing Teardown on XSS. So far, it feels more like a tech demo, but later levels are supposed to expand the gameplay more.

Thanks for mentioning Norco. Never heard of it, but looks right up my alley. Whispers of a Machine, another point-and-click by the same publisher, is also not available on Switch. I guess it's too much a niche genre?

The awards that really matter.

Good call on Dredge, it's in a class of its own. Looking forward to the DLC next year.

@Ryan_Again I can only echo your comments.

@Anachronism You're missing out if you dismiss TOTK based on superficial similarities to BOTW. They really did listen to criticism, but the way they integrated the more guided approach into their design only becomes apparent after playing the game for a longer time.

@rushiosan Just for some perspective. The 135 hours I spent on TOTK over the course of this summer were so thoroughly enjoyable that, for me, it's the game of a lifetime. So, yeah, it's a "dead" game to me in the sense that I felt that all good things must come to an end, at least for now. I have plenty of shrines and light roots left to discover, but I'll revisit the game, in due time, hopefully on the next gen Switch.

@Anachronism How do you know these were the reasons for SS selling poorly? I'm sure Nintendo did some soul-searching before taking the series in a new direction, rather than chalking it up to poor launch circumstances. Remember that the Wii U flopped, so there was barely any audience for a mainline Zelda anyway.

I'm not trying to change your mind, just saying that the team had very good reasons for overhauling the formula. Inevitably, that's going to leave some people disappointed. Again, success is not a given. If BOTW had flopped, they might have pivoted, again, in an entirely different direction that none of us would be happy with.

Not playing much the next few days, but I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas!

I have time off the next 2 weeks, so I'll pick something from the backlog. Something cheerful, like Wonder or Rayman.

@Anachronism Fact is, Skyward Sword was the worst-selling 3D Zelda up to that point. They had to pivot to keep the series fresh, rather than keep milking the same formula.

At the end of the day, the creative leads and their team have to live with the design decisions for 5+ years of development and then await public reception. Success is not a given.

@NintendoKnight Because 1) he is asked a question during an interview and has to come up with some kind of answer and 2) it's fine to leave some things to the imagination or open to interpretation.

Bought Rayman Legends yesterday evening. Wanted to try it out for a few minutes... and then 3 hours had passed by. Looks beautiful on the OLED. I'm enjoying it more than Wonder, tbh.

Also bought Mark of the Ninja, based on my experience with Invisible, Inc. (Same dev.) Not played it yet, though, had too much fun with Rayman.

@LikelySatan Good to hear you're enjoying Rush Rally!

@TJM The Civ games have quite a learning curve, so it depends on whether your son is willing to invest the time and, of course, whether he likes turn-based strategy. It's arguably more educational than most other games.

If you don't mind me being so forward, Mario and Rabbids Kingdom Battle might also be a good choice for younger players interested in strategy games. It's on sale regularly, but, unfortunately, not right now.

@mlt Enjoy! Assault Android Cactus really is brilliant.

2023 has been the year that brought me back to Switch. First, Metroid Prime remastered, then TOTK. I even bought an OLED, even though my 2017 model still works fine.

Looking forward to 2024 and the Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion remakes. Haven't played the original games, so these will be all-new to me.

@trymer89 Good to hear you're enjoying it. While I'm not a fan of AC necessarily, in the sense that I'm looking forward to every title, I did appreciate Black Flag for its West Indies setting. The Middle Eastern setting has me intrigued. The only thing holding me back is that recent Ubisoft releases now require you to sign up for an account in order to play.

Invisible, Inc. Right from the start of the tutorial mission, I knew this was right up my alley. For strategy games, readable text is especially important and it's something they paid attention to for this port. Generally, it has a very polished feel to it.

It's on sale right now.

Also redeemed a 1-month Game Pass trial (promptly cancelled), so I can play Dead Space remake on XSS the coming weeks. It's the only game on GP that interests me, tbh.

@SwagaliciousJohnson Or do a Mortal Kombat and call it Mario Kart 1.

For context, this incarnation of the studio was "Free Radical" in name only. As the article says, they reformed just 2 years ago.

The original Free Radical shut down 10 years ago and reformed as Dambuster. Dead Island 2 is their most recent release.

The notion that Zelda sacrificed herself to safeguard the Master Sword, for thousands of years, was, for me, the most emotional and strongest story beat in all Zelda games.

And that's why I'm not understanding folks who say the linear games were somehow better in terms of story. With the open world, the story is told through exploration and discovery instead. The Master Sword quest, as well as the build-up to the Wind temple (also talked about in the interview) are great examples of how to combine open world gameplay with narrative.

@DDFawfulGuy Good thoughts. Thanks for sharing.

You are right to point that the team does listen to feedback, which seems to be unappreciated. Addressing weapon breakage with Fuse is another example of them taking feedback seriously. You can't expect them to implement every piece of feedback literally. As game designers, it's their job to put their own spin on it.

@Carlore_Preventis Well said.

Some of the comments in this thread make it seem like Aonuma is on a personal vendetta against classic Zelda fans. People seem to forget that Skyward Sword was the worst selling 3D Zelda and he and his team have to answer to their bosses as well.

@JohnnyMind It's good that you mention Cadence of Hyrule. That's the type of third-party collaboration that Nintendo goes for. It still amazes me that they let an indie dev use their IP.

@epicgamner @JR150 Fair points. The examples you're citing are basically a form of multi-channel marketing, however. I guess there's a case to be made for those IPs.

What's in it for Nintendo? Everyone knows their IP. Fortnite crossovers are for IPs that need the exposure.

Even the crossovers they did in the past were limited to platform-specific versions. E.g. Soul Calibur 2, NBA Street 3, SSX On Tour on GameCube.

@dugan Yeah, as a part-time dev working on my own racing game, the Rush Rally series is a great example to strive for.

Played this on an old N64 a few months back. For me, it held up because I have nostalgia for it, but I can imagine that younger generations might be wondering what's so special about it.

I'd say 7 is a generous score for modern standards. AAA "extreme" sports games had their heyday in the late 90's and early 00's. You don't have much to choose from these days.

As for the game being light on content: all 1080 and Wave Race titles have that problem. Once you've seen all the tracks, there's only time trial and multiplayer left.

Fast RMX and Rush Rally Origins. I don't have much time for gaming right now, but I can squeeze in some racing here and there.

Yesterday I discovered that Fast RMX actually has a boost button. Before that, I thought the "energy" tracks were the means to, well, get boost. A great game becomes even better.

For me, TOTK DLC where you would be playing as Zelda during the time of the Imprisoning War would have been a dream come true.

Anyway, it doesn't sound like they're very committed to the idea, but I guess that if playable Zelda was a thing, they would save the announcement for when the game would actually be released. It would be a game-changer, quite literally.

Some of these games haven't been announced for Switch, as the article itself points out. Yet the headline makes it seem like they are all but confirmed. Basically there is almost nothing to report on for Switch, and that's fine, because we have Directs for that.

It'd be nice to have a new game in the vein of Wind Waker, with more detailed water physics and maybe the ability to dive underwater. There are very few games with dedicated water physics, just as there are practically no games with mechanics like Ultrahand.

And let's not forget the QTE ending of Dying Light.

@electrolite77 Fair point. Also, the fact that they released 2 consoles this generation does demonstrate their continued commitment to the console market as a whole.

We'll see how it plays out.

Xbox was started specifically because, in the late 90s, MS was afraid that PlayStation would come to dominate the living room. That future has not come to pass, so I can imagine that there's less of an incentive to keep Xbox around for another generation. Software has always been more profitable than hardware, hence their acquisition of Activision.

And GamePass doesn't seem to be achieving much in the way of increasing their console sales. Or maybe it does, and people are not interested in Xbox anymore.

I hope that this means we'll see more titles on Nintendo platforms. The rumoured Fallout 3 and Oblivion remasters for instance.