Ralizah

Oh man, I've been excited for this one. Never owned it on the GameCube.

People calling for them to "lower the price" are honestly living in another world. The machine was already fairly priced for the hardware. Now with the RAM shortages? The price is only going up, not down.

Software pricing is a different matter, of course, but most of their games are hitting the same MSRP as games from other big companies, and I don't expect that to change any time soon.

@Misima The creators have backed off the enlightened centrism in recent years. South Park is also literally one of the only currently running TV series that's openly and viciously satirizing the current U.S. administration.

Pikmin 4 would really benefit from a Switch 2 Edition this year. Or even just a resolution and performance patch. Give me something!

@Aquinas Pikmin 3 is a 10 - 20 hour experience. Longer than the original, shorter than 4, but pretty much in line with the rest of the series.

This series almost single-handedly made my PS Vita worth owning for years. Lots of great memories from this series.

Glad I grabbed it when I did. I'll be dipping into MKW personally over the console's life cycle.

@swedetrap Joycons w/ gyro and a grip is a great way to experience the game in handheld. As others have said, you'll benefit tremendously from learning to use gyro.

@FrenchVaniIIuxe I've yet to hear an argument for why these games are bad that doesn't involve the word "woke" being employed at some point. Care to enlighten the class?

Hopefully Sky the 3rd is next, which will be the last Trails game not on modern platforms.

Best reveal of the show. Really would love for that more retro anime style to become more common in Japanese games, because GOOD LORD it pops.

@Zeebor15 Kepler Interactive literally just swept the show with one of their games.

I'll wait until something actually materializes before I have any feelings about it. Remember the KOTOR remake?

These cinematic teasers are basically just short animated films. Until I see evidence of an actual build of the game, I'm apathetic.

Orbitals looks awesome. A It Takes Two/Split Fiction-style adventure done in a really awesome looking style reminiscent of 80s sci-fi anime? SOLD.

Yup.

Glad I grabbed mine when I did. Everything consumer-electronics related is about to become more expensive.

@Bootlicker333 It sounds like even you acknowledge this is breaking from the Prime formula, insofar as, design-wise, it perhaps resembles something like a classic 3D Zelda game a bit more than previous Metroid adventures. I can understand if this isn't your cup of tea, but it's also not anything that could really be construed as being 'trendy.' It's absolutely a risk, and Nintendo is almost always taking risks with their properties (oftentimes to the chagrin of fans who don't enjoy change).

Personally, I'm a 2D Metroid fan. Zero Mission, Dread, and Fusion are more my jam than the Prime games. But I enjoy what Retro is attempting with this game, personally, even if it's not a 10/10 experience.

@Bootlicker333 Starting your reply with a slur is not doing you any favors.

"its insane that this is the direction you want the series to go in. Its not just Myles, its all the characters. It was cringe but okay in MP3. They want to appeal to a broad audience = marvel dialogue. compare this to SM or MZM."

You've provided no evidence of this so-called "Marvel dialogue," and I imagine if you do, it'll just be one of a handful of lines from Myles from the start of the game. Most likely because your only exposure to the game is youtube grifters farming hate for views.

This isn't trying to be a totally isolated adventure in the vein of Super or Zero Mission, so why would I compare them?

"because of this game, im selling my switch and will stick to my hacked wii and ps3. spend my time doing something fun"

I mean, if that's what'll make you happy, go for it! I never understood people who spend their free time fixating on games and companies they profess to hate. No shame in being a retro gamer.

@Bootlicker333 Fair enough. Let's address the content of your post.

Putting aside the childish ad hom at the end of your post, your assertions were:

"A decade of waiting and it does 0 innovation and still plays like Prime 1."

It doesn't play like Prime 1. This is part of the ongoing narrative about how the series have evolved from 1 - 4. Most of the people hating on it are doing so because of how much it deviates from Prime 1.

"Marvel voice over direction, no imagination, useless sandbox (because BOTW), items are useless outside of dungeons ect."

There's no "Marvel voice over direction" so far; just one nerdy scientist character making a few mostly nervous jokes around a person he clearly idolizes and is intimidated by. The game, whatever its faults, is INCREDIBLY imaginative throughout, with some truly incredible art direction. The desert isn't really a sandbox and has nothing to do with BotW (games have had large, empty spaces separating dungeons or bosses since long before that game). Powerups being useless outside of the dungeons doesn't really matter because the desert is mostly just a large, empty area you drive through to get to the areas that comprise the actual content of the game, where you would actually use your equipment (if this was like Prime 1, these dungeons would all be interconnected).

Almost everyone I know who enjoys the game enjoys it for its merits and can admit its faults. It's folks like yourself who are lacking in any sense of perspective about the game, since you're so invested in the internet's negative messaging about it, along with, I'm guessing, most things involving Nintendo since the reveal of the Switch 2.

@CJD87 Yeah, it is a little weird how the first major game to properly demo mouse mode arguably doesn't need it, with the lock-on system and all.

The thing about Metroid Prime is that it didn't really need some big shake-up, since it's been so long since an entry came out. A shake-up would've been the wrong choice, and almost all of the negative attention it has received has been about how it has deviated from the atmosphere and level design of the previous games. Things that, by the way, wouldn't have been improved with a move to current gen exclusivity.

This game restarted development around 2020, I believe, which was half a decade ago, and the game was promised as a Switch 1 title, so Switch 2 exclusivity would've never been on the table regardless.

If there's a Prime 5 any time in the next several years, that one will probably be the game you're looking for, because it'll almost certainly be Switch 2 exclusive, there probably won't be an expensive re-development process since Nintendo will go with Retro from the start, and they'll likely want to differentiate it from the other games in even more meaningful ways.

I'm enjoying it so far. Obviously the desert was a mistake. It's too big. We didn't need a gigantic, even emptier Hyrule Field in Prime 4. There's also qol stuff like scans taking forever again, no color differentiation for things that you scan, etc. But overall, it looks gorgeous, plays very well, I love the dungeon theming, etc. Tentative 8 or 9 out of 10 for me, although I have to beat it before I finalize my thoughts.

@CJD87

"I would have curbed BC with Switch1 completely - and really lean into the superior S2 technology in earnest. Maybe also a shift to 3rd-person, ramp up the combat encounters (similar to Returnal perhaps? 3rd person / bullet hell) and then also made it much more open ended."

No offense, but the game you're describing doesn't sound like Metroid Prime to me. Maybe a separate subseries, although I feel like Metroid has never and will never be at its best when it's leaning into constant combat like in Returnal.

That's not to say more of a combat focus couldn't work (arguably that's what Dread did for 2D Metroid), but it would need to be careful not to overshadow the exploratory nature of the experience.

@Bootlicker333 Bold words considering the childish comment and the cringy wojack pfp, my friend.

Donkey Kong Bananza, easily. It's not quite Mario Odyssey/Breath of the Wild-tier, but it's pretty close.

It's my favorite release this year. Even moreso than Expedition 33.

Just Metroid Prime 4 for me until next year. Next game I'm eyeing on Switch after that (barring any big surprise announcements) is Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave.

There's always going to be disagreement on individual game placement with any list like this, but honestly, it's a pretty solid list overall, especially for a mainstream publication.

Already preloaded on my Switch 2, just waiting for tomorrow. 😎

@SpaceboyScreams Perpetually online gamer types are particularly prone to groupthink and bandwagoning. When you hear a lot of them parroting the same thing all of a sudden, you can usually pinpoint some YouTube video or influencer as the point of origin.

@jfp Maybe they can add Moranis to Hitman as an elusive target, give him a yellow suit, and let the angry Nintendo fans sate their bloodlust that way.

I'm locked in with my voucher preorder and NS2 upgrade pack. Game is preloaded on my Switch now, just ready for next week.

It's about to get real nerdy in here!

@MJF I mean, Advance Wars is fantastic, so either way, you're in for a good time.

Maybe remastering Prime 1 prior to this was a bad idea. Or, at least, not also remastering the others prior to 4. The series had very much evolved gradually away from the almost total isolation of the original over time, and this seems to be continuing that trajectory for the Prime subseries, so I imagine the difference will feel pretty stark for fans coming directly from that game.

Anyway, I like what I've seen of the game to date, Rick Moranis escort mission notwithstanding, so I'll be there day one!

@Vyacheslav333 Both are good, but I really like Steam's ecosystem features, so I tend to only go for GOG when the game isn't available on Steam.

But the nice thing about PC is you're not just locked to one service!

Yikes. We really are regressing from the Switch 1 era in every way, aren't we? 😅 Not thrilled to see NoA return to this censorious behavior.

It's a little sad, since Nintendo's openness to somewhat more controversial content really helped them build bridges in the third party scene that were burned by Sony, but I guess we're back to this again.

Whatever. Hopefully Valve continues holding the line, now that I'm more invested in PC as my primary platform.

I'll wait for a Switch 2 Edition, since I feel like that's probably an inevitability at some point, and I'm mostly the type of person who doesn't replay games.

"B-b-but how can that be when I personally know people who don't already own this brand new console?! The YouTubers and random Internet people predicting its doom can't all be wrong! 😿 😭"

Tried it out a couple of days ago. The game looks so good undocked! Nice to see a new Warriors game running this well on Switch 2!

@Rayquaza2510 Yeah, 4U's framerate was all over the place, which ends up making it feel fairly clunky at points. It's my favorite 3DS MH, but I wish they'd capped it at 30fps.

I think the days of MH games not looking to World are long gone. I just hope they take the right lessons from Wilds' struggles.

Capcom burned a ton of good will with this release. In different circumstances, it really could've been one of the biggest releases of the year. 10 million launch sales is mainline Pokemon levels of success.

Say what you want about the "B-Team," but at least Generations, G.U., and Rise were all exceptionally optimized for their target platforms and ran without issue. MH4U, World, and especially Wilds have all been messy releases performance-wise, and it's clear people are getting fed up with the lack of polish.

@Jhena World is probably a better cop atm, if you haven't played it. Goes dirt-cheap in sales and I'm pretty sure it still has an active online scene.

Definitely nice additions, but I'll wait until it's enhanced for Switch 2. Hopefully via this update

@Grogro "Maybe I should give Cyberpunk a try, too"

As someone who JUST completed that on Switch 2 for the first time recently: yes, yes you should. It was definitely the sort of meaty single-player experience the Switch 2 was missing basically outright before Bananza dropped.

Looks even worse compared to the Steam Decks that were going pretty low on sale recently.

I mean, yeah, this is marginally more powerful, but not $600+ more powerful. At least in my opinion.

At that price point, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ is by far the better cop.

@JohnnyMind Yup. I would've already bought SW Outlaws if I didn't heavily suspect the price will drop like a rock soon.

Punish people for being early adopters, and people will learn to wait.

@MamaSymphonia I think the difference is Team Cherry and ConcernedApe are creating incredibly polished 2D games as opposed to underwhelming 3D ones. Pokemon didn't have these issues when the games were simpler and smaller in scope.

The manpower, dev time, and budget should match the scope of the project. Open world 3D RPGs like Scarlet/Violet require more resources to function well than 2D indie Metroidvanias or life sims

"A future in which Ichiban Kasuga speeds around Kronos Island in SpongeBob SquarePants' burger car. If that doesn't get your pulse racing, you may well be dead."

Alternatively, not all of us want everything to turn into Fortnite, where wildly different IPs are mashed together without any rhyme or reason.

I struggled to get into Final Fantasy Tactics, but completed Triangle Strategy 2+ times over. The tactical gameplay is just unmatched in the genre.

@JaxonH Surprised you never played Galaxy back when 3D All Stars dropped.

But yes, these are two of the highest rated games of all time for a reason. Definitely experience them.

I didn't even know the game was out lol.

Why not release the demo now? It might actually entice me to buy the game!

I respect it, and the game looks solid. Hadn't heard of it before, but if it reviews well, it's probably a purchase for me.

Donkey Kong Bananza is such an awesome game. Really hope it continues selling well for the lifetime of the system.

This is precisely why I grab Ninty consoles day one. Even with all their problems, their software output never disappoints.

@Joeynator3000 It's possible the game has a higher resolution when docked on Switch 2 if it's adaptive.

@Joeynator3000 Interesting. I had the opposite experience. I tried it out undocked and was surprised by how good it looked for a 720p Switch game on a 1080p screen. I think the art-style probably carries it hard.

Either way, let's hope it gets patched at some point.

@Joeynator3000 I mean, pretty much any unpatched Switch 1 game will be low res on the Switch 2 screen.

Visually, it fares so much better than a big chunk of the S1 library, though. The Xenoblade and unpatched HD2D games look dreadful on S2 atm.

I enjoy MKW. The biggest flaw is that the actual interconnected world itself is sort of a waste, and the game doesn't give you enough incentive to explore in free roam. The challenges are fun, but I can never remember which I've completed and which I haven't. If they improved this element over time with additional incentives, it'd probably get me more invested in the game itself. Until then, it's a fun little pick up and play title, with most of that being Knockout Tour matches.

Bananza is fantastic. I'm not sure if it's quite Mario Odyssey-tier (the possession mechanic is truly difficult to beat, and DKB has a few grating moments of poor performance), but it's still a 9/10 platformer and pure fun to play. So I'd have to give the win to that so far.

Wow.

Switch 2 is rapidly looking like it's going to be a pure exclusives machine and little else.

The 1080p screen really was a mistake.

It'll be my next games after DK Bananza. I did 100% the Switch 1 version, but it seems like they added a substantial amount of new content.

Trying it out this morning. It's interesting, but it needs some serious work on the Japanese game front. It's missing games from series like Shin Megami Tensei, Etrian Odyssey, Danganronpa, etc. but has, like, every forgettable Western indie ever made, apparently. Even pretty massive properties like Persona and Xenoblade Chronicles get shafted, with entire series reduced down to singular cards that appear to represent the entire series, which is... deeply weird considering how different many of those games are.

Looking at the page of "experts" reveals why this probably is.

Shantae is a day one. Kirby will be copped once I finish Bananza.