Ralizah

BotW/TotK returned the series to a level of greatness it hadn't known since Ocarina of Time on the N64, and skyrocketed the level of popularity to the point where new Zeldas sell Pokemon numbers.

Imagine having that to your credit.

It'll be interesting to see where the series goes next.

I logged about 30 more hours into Fire Emblem Engage than TotK. It's also my GOTY overall. Really had a blast with it.

Unironically my favorite announcement of the night. I LOVE World of Goo. So happy to see it coming back.

"It was up against Baldur's Gate 3, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4, Super Mario Bros. Wonder and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom."

BG3 was up against itself?

@DwaynesGames Laputa's influence on Japanese media is almost unimaginable at this point tbh. Try imagining the JRPG genre without the sky pirates, airships, floating islands, ancient robots, etc. that dominated early/mid-gen classics, for example. Or pretty much any Japanese game with a steampunk influence, like Professor Layton.

Definitely makes me feel like the film will be taking significant inspiration from BotW, in that case. At least the ecological vibe of it.

I'll just check the web for announcements after it's over. Told myself I wouldn't sit through this boring, self-indulgent production anymore.

This one completely flew by me. I'd love to play, but I already have so many other games to get to!

Maybe next year.

@JagGentlemann Some people are more sensitive to framerate dips than others.

@Princess_Lilly "No hatred, no racism, no emotional damage every day. Everything was new, fun and fresh."

I'm glad you lived a charmed childhood, but that's just... not the case, lol. At least not for America and the middle-east. This decade is becoming a bigger mess than the 00s, but so many terrible things cropped up post-9/11. It was a decade of war, imperialism, torture, mass surveillance, worsening racial tensions with muslims, etc. that capped off with the second biggest global economic downturn in history.

Cautiously optimistic for this.

Not surprised at all by the release date. It was obvious Level-5 wasn't releasing any of these big games in 2023.

@Princess_Lilly The 2020s have sucked, for sure, but claiming that 'everything was alright with the world' post-9/11, post-Patriot Act, post-invasion of Iraq, post-the start of the Afghanistan War... just no, lol.

I feel like this would've sold better at a lower price point and not directly in competition with a new 2D Mario.

I'm interested once the price drops enough.

@StarPoint "DD is probably the darkest entry in the series"

T&T would like a word with you.

@Sisilly_G lol no doubt.

I'm not sure I'd trust myself with a life-size bara Ganon statue in my home tbh

@TotalHenshin The problem is that the SNES games were a little basic. Front Mission 1 wasn't fun on the NDS when it was ported to that in English, either.

The good thing is that Front Mission 3 is the next one, and I know from personal experience that the game is a banger.

Pretty sure your Baldur's Gate info is wrong lol.

Impossible Lair is my second favorite DKC game after Tropical Freeze lol. Really awesome 2D platformer. I hope they figure out how to make the next 3D entry similarly excellent.

@B_Lindz My Royal playthrough was 150 hours overall. Not even dicking around. Just doing story stuff.

It was fun from beginning to end, though.

Not great outside of the Shantae section, and we already knew that was coming.

No real use for the multiplayer mode, but this looks awesome overall. Really miss the classic sprite-based look.

Very much a day one purchase for me.

Mario + Rabbids x Persona sounds like an incredible combo. Really looking forward to this.

Nice.

I think, no matter what title wins the big prize, Nintendo almost undoubtedly was the best publisher in the industry this year.

It's only really between TotK and BG3. Those were on a different level in terms of acclaim.

Expecting BG3 to win, but I'll deeply enjoy it if TotK edges it out, if only because of the sheer salty anger that will erupt as a result.

It was also a pretty good game, I suppose, although I'm one of those weirdos who most enjoyed Fire Emblem Engage this year.

Yeah, it sounds pretty great. Definitely playing at some point... when I'm not already drowning in software!

@EmpathTheOracle Good for you, sugar! Have a cookie. 🍪

It'll probably just be a cobbling together of elements from a variety of Zelda games.

I think a medieval-y setting working better with Western live action, so the setting being closer to something like Twilight Princess wouldn't surprise me.

@nimnio You just know Nintendo is clamoring to go back to the days of Zelda games selling 5 - 10 million units lifetime (maybe 10+ across multiple systems and generations if they're particularly lucky). Back to when every new release wasn't an industry-shaking event that became the standard other games had to compare themselves against that year, and for years after.

Game over, man. Game over.

Tetris 99. At least until I unlock the Mario RPG theme.

Sell it.

Granted, I'm not upgrading until an OLED model comes out. I'm done with LCD handhelds now.

@johnedwin For major games, at least. Wouldn't be surprised if any smaller games they potentially have in the works go to PS4 as well.

The PS5 hardware sales are pathetic lately in Japan. And there's not even the excuse of manufacturing/distribution issues to hide behind anymore.

@Znake I don't understand how a 2D Mario game made in 2023 still has terrible boss diversity. Especially when recent 3D games got SO creative with it.

This was supposed to be a creative break from the staleness of the NSMB sub-series, and it is to some extent, but not nearly as much as you'd expect from the godfather of the platforming game genre.

DKC: TF is certainly better, but so are games like Rayman Legends and Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. By quite a margin.

It's not a bad game at all, but there's no excuse for it not to be better than it is.

@Ryu_Niiyama PS4 will still get games for years. The device is powerful enough to run indie and mid-budget games just fine, and there's still a large built-in audience, so why not?

The Funky Kong disrespect is real.

It's a pretty good Mario game. Although it cements for me that there is a gigantic gulf in quality between 2D and 3D Mario. Recent 3D Marios like 3D World and Odyssey are some of the best games I've ever played, whereas this feels second-rate compared to the recent DKC games, or even the recent Rayman games.

@KnightsTemplar Again, it's not just that Zelda games are selling better on Switch, it's how much better they're selling. You'll notice Mario Wonder isn't selling as fast as something like Pokemon, which TotK actually accomplished. The vast majority of Nintendo releases don't. Why is that? Zelda games tended to do between 5 - 10 million lifetime previously, sometimes across multiple releases in different console generations. TotK did 10 million in two days. It's nearly at 19 million copies sold now.

I think it was pretty obvious their major releases for 2023 were being delayed. It's November now lol

Nintendo will say anything it think it needs to to maximize sales until the hour before it announces a successor.

Zelda outselling historically high-selling Pokemon games is absolutely wild. The open world approach has turned the series into a monstrous powerhouse.

@Yoshif3 Series tend to do better on Switch, but not THAT much better.

The jump from what previous entries were selling to 30+ million units for something like BotW isn't explainable through the popularity of the system alone, or even primarily. Especially since we have remakes and remasters of older Zelda games on the platform, and they've sold a small fraction of what BotW and TotK are doing in record time.

Not to mention the games are two of the most critically acclaimed releases in history.

It's okay to have an unpopular opinion and not like the new style of Zelda, but it's PAINFULLY clear that this is what most people want from the series.

It's been a really good year for Nintendo. Mario movie was massive, and the year was packed with high quality releases. Four of their first-party exclusives this year have scored 90+ on Metacritic, even.

In general, I'm incredibly impressed with how consistently good support has been on the Switch.

@Princess_Lilly The first Star Ocean never even made it overseas until it was remade on PSP, and it didn't make a huge splash when it did. The second and third games were reasonably well-received and sold a few hundred thousand copies, but they're certainly not considered timeless masterpieces by most people.

Subsequent games have tended to be much more poorly received.

I'm not saying it's a bad series, but the low sales of this entry should come as no real surprise.

@Princess_Lilly Consistently praised series like Xenoblade don't manage more than a couple million units at most, and Star Ocean has a reputation for a... mixed level of quality. It's really not a shock that it's not doing well.

It's a pity there's not a better adapted control scheme for Switch, but I'm still excited to play this. Glad it finally saw a proper 1.0 release.

@ReaperMelia Thanks for the heads up. They're still a little pricier than I like, but definitely way down from where they were. Might have to snag them from Play Asia or something.

I want some Fire Emblem Engage amiibo.

I'd also like to see reprints for some harder to find amiibo like Alm and Celica.

And where's my Lyn amiibo?

Also, gimme the entire XC3 cast.

This is probably the best implementation of an HD-2D artstyle I've seen to date.

Yeah, as expected, the controls are the issue. Pity, since otherwise it looks like a much funner WarioWare game than Get It Together!

For god's sake, rescue MGS4 from PS3 obscurity. I've wanted to play it for years, but went with the 360 that gen.

So yeah, Master Collection 2.

@StephenYap3 Good boy.

It's no Super C or anything, but I've always been impressed with it considering how GB spinoffs often turn out.

@StephenYap3 Blasphemer. Operation C was a perfectly decent Contra game. Very good for the hardware.

@Justaguest Nah. Things are intolerable in English. It's like the voices were scientifically formulated to be as obnoxious as possible.

Didn't bother me. Had to turn the flowers to another language, though; the English voices were driving me nuts.

This will only become more drastic over time, aside from when Sony is flogging bundle deals. Super Mario Wonder will sell like brand new for full years while Spider-Man 2 will need to keep rapidly dropping in price to maintain a fraction of its initial attention. Nintendo games occupy a curious space in the market compared to the competition.