RadioHedgeFund

I'd probably lump S3&K as one game at number one. Sonic 3 on its own is just far too short to be considered better than Sonic 2 as it's half a game. That said the music to Azure Lake might push it.....

I got mine a little after launch as well, with an import Wavebird from my local game store. This was during gap year and it quickly became a favourite during our post-pub gaming sessions.

When I went off to Uni I left my PS2 at home for my brother and took my GameCube halfway across the country instead. Turns out that portability was useful!

At first I regretted it because Christmas 2002 was pretty slim pickings. Eternal Darkness and Starfox were the highlights but were hardly classics, at least not compared to Halo 2 and Vice City that my flatmates were playing at the time.

2003 was another story. I just have spent a fortune on games that year. Off the top of my head I bought Resi 0, Metroid Prime, PSO (all 3 launched the same day!), Wind Waker, SSX3, 1080, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Soulcalibur 2, Majora's Mask disc, PN03, Viewtiful Joe and Twin Snakes. Probably the best year I can think of for games releases!

I hope they don't convince Sega to reopen the PSO servers and release it on Switch 2. I'd never go outside again.

If they convince Sega to restart the servers to PSO and release that I'm never going out again.

I see they still give you the most creative tools ever in a video game but then leave a convenient stack of wooden planks next to all the environmental puzzles.

This put me right off the original.

The original backlash was due to the Spaceworld demo. Cartoon Zelda wasn’t unwanted per se, just unexpected. Turns out we were all wrong and Wind Waker is ace!

For my money it has the best soundtrack in the series as well. As Nintendo won’t ever remake it I suggest tracking down the Marcus Hedges Trend Orchestra on your streaming platform of choice, find the Wind Waker Orchestrated album and listen to The Great Sea on repeat. You’re welcome.

Still the better of the two Switch ganes.

BOTW gave you a limited set of tools and said ‘use your ingenuity to solve problems’ and it’s glorious.

TOTK gives you an even better set of tools and said ‘use this conveniently placed pile of planks of wood to solve problems’. It ruined the entire experience for me.

Never had this on my bingo card!

@Bass_X0 “JOYCONS INFERIOR. SOUNDWAVE SUPERIOR.”

Whilst I appreciate it’s cheaper to close than down, publishers should instead spin off acquisitions back into independent developers and set them free.

If anything the heads of a studio should require this as an acquisition clause.

@fenlix Oh that’s why we’ve not had a mobile port!

The only thing I’m bothered about is if they’ve kept the in game internet!

One of the greatest fighting games of all time only really bettered by its prequel. The original Soulcalibur is still a fantastic game, with one of the best soundtracks ever put into a video game and properly regionalised voices.

2 has more content but it can get quite repetitive in the harder difficulties with opponents just parrying all the time. In 1 the CPU will kick your ass on Ultra Hard mode. The animation is much smoother and faster.

Still the greatest launch title of all time.

The next Animal Crossing should just be an HD port of New Leaf, with all the Welcome Amiibo features added and the ability to make paths on the landscape.

Perfection.

If we’re being honest here, bar the first title (which has the tightest 2-player battle mode) the long and winding road has been exactly the same, just with progressively better graphics.

World is the first Mario Kart to do anything different since the SNES.

What a topsy turvy world we live in when paying full price for digital software and essentially means you’ve purchased a lease that can be withdrawn at any time whereas buying software on a plastic donut or encrypted to a memory chip lets you do whatever the heck you want with it.

In the UK it is perfectly legal to make a backup of physical software for your own personal use: it’s yours because you own it. Buy a digital licence and you’ve purchased nothing and have no rights.

In an era of high prices, the cheapest priced games will sell the best.

I’ve relegated myself to collecting boxed retro titles and paying for game pass streaming. I can’t be arsed with these new prices.

I completely sympathise with the writers being out of work. It sucks to lose your job.

But this is also the internet. Whilst it won’t pay as much (if at all) those same writers could just set up an identical site of their own, name it something game-related (eg ‘Stick Drift’) and continue to write the same articles. Doesn’t cost much for some server space and a URL registration.

Promote it on socials and people would come read it.

Why does Nintendo overcomplicate digital purchase sharing in a family?! On iOS you just go to the list of a family member and click a button, no further action required.

Now Nintendo has the extra power how about a remake of Minish Cap with a real-time shrinking effect?

Is split screen menu only or can you free roam in it as well?

@kedireturns I'm not an expert but I still don't see how a raise in import tax when moving goods into the USA somehow makes it more expensive to sell a product in the UK. This is Sony offsetting against the weak Yen but also charging non-US buyers extra to make up the difference.

I'd be amazed if GTA6 didn't come to the Switch 2. GTA5 launched first on the Xbox 360 and looked great so they could do it. When there is launch parity with other platforms, Nintendo consoles seem to make up the lions share. Over 50% of Hogwarts players are on Switch.

Somebody at Sony forgot that when your biggest rival releases a new device you’re supposed to put your price down to spur competition, not up!

No Yuri Lowenthal, no dice.

Probably the Wii. I walked out the store with Wii Sports, Wii Play, Twilight Princess, Monkey Ball and Red Steel. I wouldn’t have bought this many games for any other console.

I wouldn’t list any Nintendo console as best launch lineup ever though. I still think the PSP takes it with WipEout Pure, Ridge Racer, Lumines, Metal Gear Ac!d, Mercury and Everybody’s Golf. That’s a very strong cross section of titles. The Xbox comes close with PGR, JSRF, Halo and Amped.

Given that physical releases are sadly on their way out, most games will reappear as roms in 20 years and digital purchases are really just a shareware licence and not ownership, it makes more sense than ever just to sink £250 on a Series S and just rent everything you want to play on Gamepass for £15 a month.

The plethora of decent phone controllers in many ways makes portable consoles obsolete and Gamepass streaming lets you pick up from where you left off at home anyway.

Microsoft have gotten themselves in gear this gen with some great first party titles and if you’ve never owned one before there are hundreds of great Xbox 360 titles available for a pittance. Switch 2 has the retro thing down it’s true but you can also play loads of decent OG Xbox titles, ports like Perfect Dark HD and every great Dreamcast title bar PSO.

It’s a shame nobody has moved on from mouse controls for shooters. Not saying there is anything better but moving out from cover and shooting a closing enemy is all we’ve done since Space Invaders. Might be time for some
Innovation!

Just buy the download?

I don’t get the controversy around the Game Key. Surely it’s no different to needing the disc in on PS5 after an install? I can see how preservationists might dislike it but let’s be honest: most retro gaming is done with roms and not 2nd hand carts.

I think it’s brilliant this Nintendo-exclusive franchise still gets brought out for the new console. RMX is still one of the best looking games on the Switch 1 (check out the night time rain tracks) so this will be welcome.

£75 in the UK for physical MKW.

Capture button for player 2.

I’m assuming they got rid of the crappy Skell insurance mechanic? That ruined the original for me.

@LXP8 I won’t say it plays better than any other but I did like how you could design your own clothes for the custom character, however low res.

My favourite in the series is still Sk8land on the DS!

@SilverBullet_35 Id rather companies made new good games that attempted to cover up the mistakes of the past.

Suikoden II is one of the greatest JRPGs ever. The sheer volume of sprite animations for ‘cut scenes’ is incredible. There is more emotion in many scenes from this game than most modern titles with 100x the power.

This is the Croc situation all over again, where a game people haven’t played since they were 6 gets requested for a remaster.

I might be a crotchety old middle aged man but most of the games I played as a kid were crap too. Leave them in the past where they belong.

Now if we can finally get that Avenger Penguins/Road Rash crossover I’ve been dreaming of for 30 years….

Not when the developers are selling the best game in the series

@masterLEON It’s the principle of it! They advertise these cool transformers right on the box and then when you get to throw them into battle, you’re always apprehensive because of the cost of fixing the damned things. How it got past the concept stage I’ll never know.

It’s like putting car insurance in Forza Horizon with the game charging you credits for every collision!

The only dealbreaker is if they’ve kept the godawful Skell insurance mechanic.

I dip in and out but my kids still play it. Honestly it’s a shame Nintendo don’t buy this one title off them and run it themselves.

Where does this leave Niantic though? Pokémon Go was built on top of Ingress, a game built on Google Maps. They started to use Pokémon Go as a way to collect AR data to build some sort of digital twin mapping system (whilst ignoring Google Earth) but without that feed of constant data what’s even left? The Scaniverse market isn’t so big as to replace it.

If they launch it between £300 and £349 there won’t be any stock available this side of Christmas.

There is no way it will be more than this because there is a perceived price range when it comes to Nintendo hardware.

Snobbish gamers who denounce mobile titles are actually missing out on some treats. I’m not saying Nintendo’s titles are all groundbreaking but there are some real gems out there that aren’t just F2P cash grabs. HAL’s Part Time UFO was a lovely game.

Nintendo would make a lot of money if they ported Streetpass to mobile. The Covid19 Bluetooth tagging was basically this. Give away Quest and Puzzle, IAP the other games just like the 3DS. It would make a lot more sense than bringing it back to consoles.

I wonder if they’ll give Miitomo a second chance? I really enjoyed it and it reminded me of the fun-but-disposable Wii Channels like ‘Everybody Votes. I always wondered if they meant for it to work as the Switch’s social manager but they ditched it for a greater focus on gaming?

Bringing back the EU PS Vita version would be great

I can't believe how many players there are on here running their hands with glee. It's true that EA have been one of the worst companies for moneygrabs of late (and it wouldn't kill them to release a Strike compilation) these are people's jobs and livelihoods on the line.

If your company experienced a downturn and you were for the chop because your management ran things poorly it wouldn't be so funny.

The more the merrier!

Whilst I'm sure Nintendo would rather have done things on their own timetable or are contractually obliged by Microsoft or something to wait until a certain date, all these leakers are popping up because people are excited to show off the console! And who cares about a few buttons? The real meat is the software which we thankfully know nothing about.

Angel of Darkness and Episode 1 in the same paragraph. Did Aspyre not get the memo,?