Rainbowjames

Credit where its due, they were a big deal back in the day and had an important role to play. Easier to proceed with a Direct now though or a State of Play or whatever xbox call theirs

Seth from Street Fighter IV and the bouncing snow races in Mario Odyssey. Uurrrgghhhh

That is the fairest write-up of Sparks of Hope I've seen, completely nails that game. Has some interesting ideas but suffers from being stupidly easy. The harder difficulty just becomes a battle of attrition. The original is an absolute classic though.

@GraniteFraggle this sometimes happens to me. I find moving the dock a little further from the TV sorts it easily.

@Trellgoth very good, especially at that price.

8bitdo Pro 2 is my go to for all 2D games. Wonderful pad

Couple of comments

1. Edge did something like this back in 2017 entitled The 100 Best Video-games You Can Play Today. That included Xenoblade Chronicles for those interested.

2. I would pick BOTW over TOTK too. The sense of freedom and endless possibilities is impossible to beat and not really matched in TOTK in the same way, even though its bigger in size. I don't agree that TOTK is just dlc though. Very unfair comment.

I liked the fire temple, the zora one though was embarrassingly bad even by TOTK dungeon standards

This is a thing of beauty.

Which bit is the dungeon? Not meant sarcastically

I've put in around 120 hours according to my Switch. Finished the main story but probably only about 50% complete. Absolutely loved it and aim to do everything except the koroks. It is a phenomenal game and the game design is mind blowing. I can't imagine the headache something like Ascend must have created in terms of the environment design and testing, yet it seems flawless.
It's not perfect as a game, there are elements I'm not fussed by, but comfortably one of the best things I've ever played over the last 35 years of gaming. It is so so so good.

I regard BOTW as a purer experience, plus it has the advantage of coming first. I don't want to go back the old Zeldas ever though. I played the Link's Awakening remake shortly after BOTW, good game though it was, I felt so restricted.

The story of TOTK is also awesome, plus the NPC reactions to Link strolling around in his pants are worth the price alone.

Bloody love me some Zelda, great effort

Hyper Street Fighter 2 on Capcom Arcade 2 is the best as you can chose any iteration of the characters. It also has Alpha 2 and 3 which are my favourite Street Fighters. Amazing games

@AtlanteanMan sums it up neatly. I finished it on hard without breaking a sweat and was really disappointed. The first one was incredible.

Mario was never a young man. He was born middle aged, with very good knees.

I'm not sure it's that jarring, more unusual that it's in a game. If that was the end of an episode of Peppa Pig I'm not sure anyone would bat an eyelid.

Zelda BOTW is probably my favourite game of all Time and I'm old enough for the NES to have been my first console. The Champions Ballad dlc however was utterly non-essential. I did enjoy the Master Trials though (or whatever they are called).
My favourite Switch DLC is the Donkey Kong Rabbids add-on. Marvellous stuff. I am enjoying the Mario Kart tracks too at the moment. Yoshi's Island all the way.

Ummm, appears to sold out 15 mins later....

You've been very hard on Link to the Past Link there. I rate him and BOTW Link as the best.

Yoshi's Island had me grinning like a wally

Kirby and Poochie please

Finally, the long awaited Viewtiful Joe collection

@andyjw Good work. Can relate to that completely

@andyjw the only thing that kept me going was the threat of having to start it again another time!!!

I really wanted the game to be amazing, I adored the first and 100%'d it and the dlc. Sparks of Hope wasn't as good for me. I'm pleased they tried to do new things with it but I preferred the original by a mile. I found Sparks of Hope way too easy, the balancing was off. You looked at the enemies, picked the right Sparks and job done. Upping the difficulty just made it more of a grind, especially the last boss which felt like 90 mins of my life I'll never get back. I only lost characters if an enemy's special effect knocked my character out into the open.
I agree with the post about the open world being a chore, I just wanted the battles!!
Shame, the first game was one of my all time faves.

Yes, used them lots. Excellent site. Got my switch from them

I'm old enough to have paid £65 in the early 90s for Street Fighter 2 on the SNES which must be about a gazillion quid in today's money. (Possibly £125 ish according to internet) $70 or £70 sounds a lot but there's two of us in our house who will 100% TOTK. It is a lot, but in terms of cost for overall time spent, probably actually pretty good

@sixrings I own a Series X and a Switch. Would BOTW run better on the Series X? Yes, of course. The Series X is capable of things way beyond the Switch (and most likely the follow up to the Switch too).
Was the performance bad enough to impact my enjoyment? No, didn't give a monkey's. It's just a brilliant game.
(Actually, the bit by the Deku Tree was pretty bad and looked awful, apart from that though I could cope).

Would be boring if we all agreed on everything. For me BOTW is the best game I've ever played (I'm 44 and my first console was a NES). I also liked what story there was and the way it was handled. The music was great and I have no issue with the breakable weapons and hope they remain in TOTK. My 14 year old feels pretty much the same. We cannot wait for the new game. Roll on May.

Should be an option for did everything except the blooming korok seeds!

I am surprised it was released in this condition given it's Nintendo. Their quality control is normally top notch and this falls well below it. The input lag on Mario Golf when it came out made it very hard to play, although weirdly it improves in handheld. Other games have more issues. This just isn't typical Nintendo. My year's up at the end of the month and I'll be going back to normal Switch online. Price of the expansion isn't bad, just not good enough performance wise. Bit of a shame.

Worth playing for Wheatley's American accent alone

That comment about tweaking the difficulty is interesting. I had this but remember it being very difficult at times, to the point it was a huge detriment to actually enjoying it

I found Super Mario 3D World insultingly easy and then I got to Champions Road. Good grief that was hard. Took me lord knows how many attempts over two weeks and redeemed the game for me. I finished it once and am ashamed to say I've not dared do it again! I then saw someone do it with no power ups and Toad online - wow

@TheDragonDAFan apparently FIFA wanted double to use their name again

I find it unsettling and would do anything to avoid owning such a case. I see that as very much my problem though and really wish I didn't care.

I genuinely don't think Nintendo give a flying one here. They are very much from the you give us money to play our games school, not the other way around. Loads around the games industry has changed over the years, doesn't mean everyone has to though. Nintendo won't no matter how much streamers moan.

I had this for my SNES. I remember walking into whatever was the main gaming chain in the UK (was it Game back then?) in around Christmas 96 and seeing a single copy on the shelf. Hadn't seen any reviews or advertising but bought it on the strength of the name alone. Apart from the weird 2 second pause before each round it was amazing.

I've got a pair of Grados, SR320e. Sound absolutely phenomenal but not always that comfortable over long sessions. Also, these are open backed so anyone nearby can hear everything you're listening to and vice versa. Sound quality is so so good though. Not an obvious choice for a company to make Pokemon efforts. Actually, Grado have always done their own thing and followed their own path regardless of what others are doing - very Nintendo!

Any release details? I'll get one. Really like my split pad and gives another play option. Wired bit doesn't bother me and means it would be cheaper. Presumably not feasible to fit a battery in something that size.

@thiz I'm exactly the same. Think I've had it on 4 different formats but never got more than 2 hours in. Looked amazing but didn't hold my attention.

Blimey, I know reports suggested it was going to cost a lot to have the mega drive games on the online service but this is way more than I'd have guessed

I agree with the sentiment of this to an extent. I've got a family plan for myself and two teenagers, both of whom play Animal Crossing. As such, was happy to get the extension for now. I was annoyed though that the only option was a new 12 months. When I read you could upgrade your current membership and receive a discount I read that as being for the length of your current membership - not that you'd have to start again. I had 5 months left on my family membership but still had to pay £48 through Nintendo (couldn't see anywhere else selling it yet) for a new 12 months. Felt a bit annoyed, but the kids will be all over the Animal Crossing DLC and I've never played Majora's Mask. Not sure what I'll do next year - see what happens. I love Nintendo and probably am a fanboy - this still feels a bit rubbish though and in the case of the N64 emulation, even a bit amateurish.

Sone of the outcry in general has been daft, for example not being able to use the designed for Switch N64 pad on other systems, but..... I think the issue here is that given the cost, Nintendo doing "a pretty decent job of delivering 64-bit games on the Switch" isn't really enough. Given it's their games on their console, it needs to be spot on.
Be interesting to see if they do ever give us button remapping. That seems reasonable too.

@Sinton I think turbo added some extra moves such as Chin Li's fireball. Hyper just added the bosses as characters........ I think. (Would have know this 25 years ago or so!)

£1.69 for Street Fighter - excellent!

As a few others have pointed out, I'm surprised we never got the first two Batman Arkham games, especially as one would have been a Wii U port.
Vanquish would be awesome, said it a few times on here before. Also, seems odd we never got a Street Fighter IV version given how often Capcom recycle.
Also, Far Cry 3 or 4 surely would be possible based on PS3/360 version.
Or Dishonored 1.
Or every game not on switch

Weirdly Argos dropped this morning from 49.99 to 39.99. Pleased with that as was waiting so could collect in store which I'm not sure you can do on a pre-order. Nice surprise!

@JaxonH Completely agree. Wireless is convenient and getting better but wired remains superior. I have a pair of Grado sr325e which I use for Breath of the Wild. Sounds amazing, very immersive. The removal of the headphone jack from phones is a bug bear of mine. Be interesting to see if Nintendo's next handheld has one or not. Not to say there aren't good wireless headphones out there though. I've got some B & W PX7s which I'll try later. Nice to have the option.

Perhaps you're old and started out with the Game & Watch, NES or Game Boy - ouch. My first console was a NES but I wouldn't say I was old at 43!!! Super Mario Bros or TMNT, can't remember which one I played first. Memory not what it was.......