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Looks wonderful and great continuity with Link's Awakening. I was hoping for a Collector's edition, but it looks like we won't be getting one this time.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are playable sections with Link, seeing that he's on the cover. Parallel dimension puzzles? Sign me up.

So looking forward to this.

9 out of 10. Yes, there's plenty of pep left in the Switch. Nothing indicates that this is its swan song Direct.

Actually, we might be entering a "New 3DS"-like phase next year, with new games playable on both generations by default. This makes business sense as well. They'd be leaving money on the table if they didn't continue releasing games for the existing, 140M+ install base. The Zelda Lite edition just reinforces this notion.

Despite my initial lukewarm reaction to the graphics during the Direct, I must say the art direction shows great continuity with the previous entries. These screenshots still don't make it look substantially better than MP1 remastered, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe they didn't want to reveal too much at this stage.

Come to think it, I can't recall being very impressed by TOTK from the trailers, but, in-game, some of the vistas made my jaw drop. I'm sure MP4 will have similar moments. The jungle environment shot looks especially intriguing.

I always felt there was a big surprise reveal left for this generation and this is an even bigger surprise than I could have imagined!

I absolutely LOVED Link's Awakening. Having an all-new game in the same style and playing as Zelda is just a dream come true. Hopefully, there will be a Collector's edition as well.

This one is new to me, so definitely interested. Curious to find out how it holds up compared to Tropical Freeze.

It's hard to verify, with the sheets taken down, but a random sampling of some of the other music shows that many sheets on musicnotes require payment. Maybe the compositions weren't licensed? If so, then Nintendo has a claim to legal damages.

@Poodlestargenerica To be fair here, they're a third-party studio, working on an existing franchise. Maybe they wanted to change the core gameplay more than they were allowed to. For better or worse, the increased focus on boss fights makes Dread stand out from the other entries in the series.

With the weather over here being what it is (not great), more TTYD. Unless the upcoming Direct brings a big surprise reveal, this will be the game of the summer for me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

At least we know it's in development. Assuming it's going to be on the quality level of the previous Primes, it also goes to show how long it takes to develop a game of that caliber.

I hate online multiplayer, so the lack of it is not a con for me. Playing with friends IRL is much more fun and sociable.

@SakuraHaruka You're right, it was the transfer pak. I'm getting old.

Bought the PAL version close to release back then. They absolutely nailed the balance between fun and simulation. The GBC title was a great game in its own right, you could even exchange characters between the GBC and N64 using the link cable.

The last 3DS Golf title was good as well, but the new Switch title didn't really interest me, due to lack of content at launch. Same thing with Mario Strikers.The gameplay is great, but the content is lacking. Maybe these games are more content rich now, I don't know, but launching them in an incomplete state, with the promise of "free updates", is a big turn-off.

@jedgamesguy Because games cost money and they want to recoup their investment. Sony have been releasing ports of their biggest franchises on a Microsoft platform (i.e. Windows PC) for years already. It's only logical for MS to return the favour.

For Sony and MS, consoles no longer make enough money, since they're sold at a loss and there's little room for price cuts anymore, like there was during previous console generations. PC is where the money is.

Nintendo is the laughing third here.

@AnonyQ Due to the lack of hand-holding, there is a less optimal way of playing this game. This is mentioned as a con in the NL review as well.

In hindsight, my playthrough would have been more enjoyable if I had done the ship upgrades and followed the main questline in tandem. Focusing on ship upgrades too early, will make later quest sections too easy.

Finally! Really looking forward to this. Dredge is the perfect "autumn" game, so this new content releases just in time. I finished the base game a while back, so will start a new playthrough with all the DLC.

Link's Awakening is a great choice. The frame rate issues are overrated, tbh, they occur mostly when loading in new areas. I enjoyed it so much that I traded my physical for the collector's edition, after I had already finished it. Actually, I might give the bonus colour dungeon a go this weekend, because I skipped that part back then.

Anyway, definitely more TTYD. It's my first Paper Mario and I'm becoming a fan.

I'm having a great time with TTYD. They made the right choice in prioritising graphics quality over performance, because the art looks beautiful. Love the humour as well.

While the issues that the dev raises are genuine, the message is diluted by putting the game on sale at the same time.

More TTYD. I get why it's held in such high regard.

Also, Super Mario Odyssey. Bought the art book last weekend and felt inspired to start a new playthrough. It's been more than 6 years since I last played it.

Look around and you can get new titles for substantially less than their RRP, if you buy physical. TTYD is 20% "off" basically everywhere. That is an obvious part of the whole pricing strategy.

Second, remasters are also aimed at new audiences. If a game was worth full price 20 years ago, it's still worth full price now. Pricing it substantially lower would make it come off as cheap and not worth playing. And if you already played the original, it's your choice to double-dip.

I'm not sure if stretching the use of the term "survival horror" to denote a WW1 theme is such a good idea, tbh. In gaming, the term carries a different connotation.

I have a printer somewhere but can't remember the last time I actually printed something, so the ink cartridge will most likely be dry. So, no, I won't be printing this.

Anyway, started playing this weekend and fell in love with the humour. It's my first Paper Mario, actually, and I'm not used to Nintendo games being this funny.

I had a similar experience with Metroid Dread, a game that I was looking forward to so much, I even pre-ordered the collector's edition. But what I found was a game that was, well, remarkably linear for a Metroid and filled with too many bosses. Anyway, got fed up, quit halfway through, then gave it another chance a year later and was hooked.

I guess it's about having the right expectations. Hollow Knight clicked with me after 5 mins, but it's not for everyone.

Although I had planned on playing it later, I caved in and bought TTYD. So that's what I'll be spending my lazy Sunday afternoon on. GC is my favourite console, but this is one of the classics from that generation that I did not get around to playing.

@Dr_Corndog The earlier Ultimas (until 5) have dungeon crawling sections, but otherwise they're the precursors to today's open-world games. Quite different from Wizardry.

I would urge anyone interested in retro RPGs to give at least Ultima 6 a try. That's the last one that had turn-based gameplay and the then-new mouse interface makes it relatively accessible. The pixel art is great as well.

Back then, I felt that SMB beat Nintendo at their own game, by being the best showcase for the then-new GC controller. Wave Race Blue Storm sold me on the console, but SMB was the launch game I ended up playing the most.

New Star GP. Played the demo on XSS a while back and was looking forward to the Switch release. The somewhat higher price, for an indie game, and the mention of some minor FPS dips in the NL review, gave me pause. Now that it's on sale, and most likely patched up, I have no excuse anymore. I love arcade racers and this is probably among the best ones on Switch, or any other platform for that matter. Just played the tutorial for 5 mins and the FPS seems to be fine.

Also, more Hollow Knight.

For me, it's the greatest game of all time, because it captures that childlike wonder of "where does this path go?" and "what happens If I do this?" in a way that no other game has done before.

The story beats were great as well and I loved the fact that you could experience them out of order. Sure, the scenes with the sages got a little repetitive, but that's the compromise they had to make for giving players so much freedom.

Also, the last time I played BOTW, was back in late 2017, so the map didn't feel too familiar 5 years later. Re-exploring the world, to see what had happened to some of my favourite places, like the Great Plateau, was genuinely exciting.

Bowser's Fury also deserves a mention. Due to technical limitations, it comes across as a "cancelled" attempt at bringing the open world format to a Mario game, repurposed as a bonus game. It runs 30fps in handheld and unstable 60fps docked. Despite the brief playtime, I was thoroughly satisfied. Hopefully they'll expand upon the open world format for a Switch 2 Mario game.

Link's Awakening comes to mind. Skipped the bonus (colour) dungeon, because I felt the experience was just perfect as it was.

And, of course, Inside.

Too long: Luigi's Mansion 3. Despite the levels being of consistently high quality, it simply went on for too long.

My dream DLC for TOTK would have you playing as Zelda during the time of the Imprisoning War. Now if they'd make a full game out of that setting, even better. Sure, that would give them another "excuse" to remix the same Hyrule map, but still, it's something I'd love to see.

@westman98 Yeah, the Lomei side quests were brilliant. The rewards at the end didn't really interest me, tbh, but that makes these quests a perfect example of the journey being more important than the destination. I would say that whole notion encapsulates the main TOTK experience more than anything else.

Just before the final showdown, I decided to exchange stamina for a heart container, basically on the gut feeling that I was going to need that one heart.

Well, in the last few moments of the first part of fight, I was down to just one heart, having exhausted all options for heart restoration. So, at that moment, it was literally him or me. Never felt so elated at landing a winning blow, especially not as it was my first attempt. The ~135 hours that preceded it came full circle. I played and beat the game on my own terms. For me, it's the game of a lifetime.

I stopped playing after that and haven't touched it since. There are plenty of light roots and shrines left to discover, but I'll save those for a future run on the Switch 2.

@Croctopus Most likely there's still one or two major titles in the pipeline for the current gen. If so, that explains why they also announced in advance that the next Direct will not mention anything about the successor.

The BOTW art book was translated as well, so it would be very surprising if Dark Horse left this on the table.

Day 1 buy for me.

EDIT: checking Wikipedia, it seems the English translation took almost a year to be released.

The more point-and-clicks, the better.

For me, this might be a bit too "fairy tale" in terms of atmosphere, but when autumn comes around, I might appreciate its vibe more.

With current inflation levels, I don't think major price cuts are likely, but, rather, the new Switch will be more expensive. So they'll keep the 2019 revision as the cheaper option, but drop the OLED model from the lineup to better differentiate between the two generations.

Anyway, yes, I think there's at least one major, unannounced Switch title left for the holiday season, and a cross-gen launch title for next Spring.

Nice, stealing the spotlight from Apple's iPad showcase.

Yep, like I said yesterday, there could still be one or two unannounced major titles in the pipeline. I hope one of these is the long-rumoured DK game, supposedly being developed by the Odyssey team. But, of course, MP4 would be great as well.

They'd be leaving money on the table if they didn't have a big title this holiday season. Sure, they need new, exclusive games to sell Switch 2 hardware, but software is pure profit.

Shame about this particular game not coming to fruition. The 2nd half of 2024 is completely free for DK to make a long-overdue comeback. I believe there's a still at least one major, unannounced release left for Switch and DK could be it. Remember that Wonder was announced only 3-4 months before its release. There may be some surprises left this year.

In terms of vibes, it seems odd to release this at the start of summer. At least for the northern hemisphere. Never played it and definitely interested, but will pick it up later in the year.

Going to be copypasting this for the next few weeks: more Hollow Knight.

Have a great weekend everyone!

That final quote, about wanting to make games that can be held onto like a treasure, explains why these titles stay evergreen. Great article!

@Sonicka You're comparing apples and oranges here.The "game A runs at 60fps, so game B should do as well" argument does not take into account the different types of rendering and their impact on memory bandwidth. The Metroid Prime comparison is irrelevant. If you're curious about the subject, see my recent comment history for a more detailed explanation. Specifically, this comment. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2024/04/paper-mario-the-thousand-year-door-switch-frame-rate-revealed#comment8093180

@AllieKitsune No it doesn't matter, because modern games maintain an internal tick rate, separate from the rate at which they're rendering their frames. So movements and button presses are handled with exactly the same timing.

Yes, people will undoubtedly experience the game differently, due to the difference in frame rate, but that's just perception.

For me, this comparison only confirms that memory bandwidth is the reason for the 30fps. The shadows, reflections and lighting effects on display here don't come for free.

Having said that, I can understand why someone would prefer the original's look, without all the visual pizzazz. In the ideal case there would have been an option for toggling between the old and new graphics.

Assuming backwards-compatibility, I'm sure it will render at 60fps on the next Switch.

@RupeeClock It could just stay in handheld mode and upscale the 720p frame for backwards-compatible titles to 1080p, or display black borders to keep it at 720p.

If the screen is, indeed, 1080p then that means memory bandwidth will increase as well. That alone would be good news. 1080p is more than twice the amount of pixels of 720p.

@smoreon Yeah, bandwidth really is the major shortcoming. The Switch is in the same league as PS3, which has a similar bandwidth of ~25Gb/s. PS4 increased the bandwidth to ~176Gb/s, showing that console makers recognized it was a bottleneck. It's unlikely we'll see a similar increase for the next Switch, since it's almost certainly a mobile chipset again. For reference, the latest iPhone tops out at just ~50Gb/s. Mobile chipsets are not gaming hardware.

@smoreon Good points! Thanks for sharing.

While it's true that a 2D game typically has to render a more limited slice of the game environment, this does not outweigh the performance loss of using hires textures. I.e. at mip level 0. This is because the vast majority of rendering time goes to the fragment processing stage. The vertex processing stage, basically the major difference between 3D and 2D scenes, takes much less time than you might think. In other words: rendering 2D scenes has little performance advantage over 3D, when large, hires textures are the only option available.

@Denoloco There's a perfectly valid reason, and that's because Odyssey is a 3D game. Like I explained in my previous post, 3D games can take advantage of mipmapping to reduce memory bandwidth. Mipmapping means the game uses lower resolution textures the farther an object is placed from the camera. The lower the texture resolution, the less memory bandwidth it uses.

Games with detailed sprites in the foreground, like Paper Mario, cannot use this type of optimization. That also explains why relatively simple-looking 2D games can still have performance problems on Switch. The latest Contra being an example.