Ralizah

@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.

I'm glad I didn't jump on this immediately. Will definitely be picking it up on Switch 2, though.

@scoobdoo Falcom is a VERY prolific developer. I'd much, much rather have consistent releases with AA graphics that require only moderate sales to succeed than entries with AAA graphics every eight years or so that requires millions of sales to succeed.

Just Shantae and the Kirby expansion for me.

Finally, a release date on modern platforms.

I'll probably pass on the extra costumes, though. They're super cute, but don't work as well with the pixel art style in this game.

@Nintenchrome This is, to be clear, the series where the main character wears a belly dancer outfit and could literally dance for money in the first game. Pirate's Curse on 3DS also has that entire sequence with the slave princess outfits. Light sexualization has always been an element of this series.

@N00BiSH Appreciate you expanding on your criticisms of WF. I was concerned for a moment that they were actually doing something sketchy!

I'm not religiously opposed to these things like some people are, but it's 100% a measure designed to save money on the part of the publisher. It does nothing beneficial for the customer, and being lied to openly like this is more than a little irritating.

I'll buy the ones I want on sale, eventually, but day one money doesn't go to publishers cheaping out like this.

Given the lack of a Switch 2 physical, I think I'm better off just going to Steam with this one.

Escape room puzzles sound fun, though. I miss Zero Escape.

@Darthmoogle Playing through Phantom Liberty atm in the Switch 2 version. There's some slow down, but it's been fine. Very immersive.

It's a little wild that Cyberpunk 2077 is probably going to be the major 2025 Switch 2 game that most fully shows off the capabilities of the system. 😬

Still have high hopes for MP4, though. Smooth mouse aiming at 4K60 🤤

@Hank_Scorpio It's a channel dedicated to technical analysis of video games. Just because they criticize a particular aspect of the performance doesn't mean you need to let it impact your experience. I still plan on fully enjoying the game.

Wow, actually scoring down because of performance issues in a first-party release? Is this the same Nintendo Life I've been visiting for years?

Hopefully y'all have that same energy if the next Zelda is chugging as much as BotW and TotK were in spots.

"arguably the Switch 2's first absolute must-play"

Oof, that MKW swipe!

@Juanalf Ah. Yeah, no.

It's a legal grey area, but to my mind there's no moral difference between pirating an old out of print game and, say, buying an old out of print game second-hand. The developer/publisher isn't benefiting either way.

This is why I own a pretty big Virtual Console library on Wii U/3DS, even though I already played a bunch of those games via emulation. I'm happy to give them money for a legit copy if there's a way to do so.

Also, the emulation scene allows people to experience games that would otherwise be forgotten entirely. There's also a huge overlap with people who create patches for Japanese games and open up entirely new experiences for English speaking audiences.

I love the emulation scene, but doing so with modern games on the market is not a great look. Piracy is always gonna happen, but it annoys me when people get weirdly moralistic about it, like they're doing something righteous by illegally distributing products that are available to purchase legally.

@Juanalf So, in your mind, trafficking in ROMs of long oop Genesis games is morally identical to doing the same with games you can walk out and buy on a modern Nintendo system right now?

Also, what does that have to do with what you quoted?

People acting like there's no value to targeting high traffic piracy sources because it doesn't stamp it out always and forever. 🙄

Playing whack-a-mole with these criminals won't stop it completely, obviously, anymore than targeting any illegal operation ever stops the activity completely, but it will mitigate it and push it further underground.

What's the point of clicking on an article like this if you're annoyed by the existence of these comparison tests? People really do love complaining.

Anyway, yeah, Mario Kart is fun and all, but Cyberpunk is giving me that fun launch day meaty single-player experience I've been wanting.

People enjoy a good pile-on, I suppose.

I've never cared for hate bandwagoning or big public outrage campaigns. Especially since, more often than not, people don't have all the facts.

Always happy to get another Shantae game. The original, Pirate's Curse, and Seven Sirens (after that big update) were all pretty excellent. Easily one of my favorite 2D indie series.

Just once. Second place isn't too uncommon for me, though.

The more wildly this console succeeds, the funnier the negativity campaign online becomes.

Terrific port that somehow looks excellent on a 4K set. And it seems to support every feature of the system, making it arguably the premier tech demo on the console.

Anyway, judging by comments online, DF is either run by a bunch of shills who cash checks from Nintendo to give their games deferential treatment or they're on a vendetta against Nintendo and do everything they can to trash the company's systems and games. Never change, internet!

Monster Hunter Stories 2. Seemingly locked 60fps now, even in areas that were a slideshow before, and the game is still pretty sharp looking on the 1080p screen. It's pretty much a free, automatic remaster.

While I wasn't really stunned visually, the increased cartoony expressiveness of the characters and animations really brought the game to life for me.

Additionally, Knockout Tour is easily my favorite multiplayer mode to date, making races pleasantly tense and competitive, and I love how it weaves multiple tracks together.

Free roam is a lot of fun, too. Very, very cool seeing how the entire world connects. I don't think it's really meant to be played like BotW, where you spend hours tromping around the wilderness. Every time I boot up the game, it seems to have my racer near a P-Switch, and yeah, I can get addicted to completing challenges.

I was playing with my bf, and after completing a set of races (or a knockout tour, I can't remember), me playfully hitting his kart turned into an impromptu battle mode where we jousted across the open world, trying to hit each-other with shells and other weapons.

It's not perfect, but it is a really fantastic Mario Kart game, and the Switch 2 launch really is proving successful for me, between that mega exclusive, the upgraded classics, superb ports like Cyberpunk, and seeing how the system improves older titles (Hyrule Warriors DE is SO good now undocked).

Yeah, this looks massively better.

Obviously it's not a pretty game, it's still the same thing with the same textures, presumably, but going from severe chugging to a buttery smooth performance will make all the difference.

Kinda want to play it again.

60fps will be the big improvement to this, I imagine.

Hopefully HDR support as well

Definitely a future cult classic.

I pre-ordered it, but will get to it after I'm finished up with Fantasy Life i. Really looking forward to digging deep into this one.

Going multiplat was a good play. It's been hanging out around the top of the charts on Steam since release, and it runs beautifully on my Deck with a minimum of tinkering.

That 24-hour peak on SteamDB keeps creeping up from day to day so far. I expect the next 500k will be approaching rather quickly.

@MamaSymphonia Honestly, it's a good move. The HDR looks really nice in this game. It deserves to be enjoyed on something other than Nintendo's creaky old 2017 tablet.

I mean, it's worth playing regardless, but if you can wait a bit and have a better experience, why not, right?

Full bisexual compatibility for both sexes, and now interdimensional polygamy... this entry is certainly shaping up to be something, isn't it?

But very good for someone like me who doesn't fancy replaying the same game over and over.

I couldn't go back to this after seeing how smoothly it runs on Steam Deck, but honestly, it'll probably run even better on Switch 2. Either way, glad Switch 1 players aren't left out in the cold. 30fps is far from unplayable.

So, it's like a collection of different games: an adventure game, an escape room game, a visual novel, a dating sim, and a stealth game. Interesting!

Kodaka and Uchikoshi are cooking this year. So far, we're getting Somnium Files 3, The Hundred Line, and whatever this is.

@weirdregalia I get the hesitation. I'll never fully understand the logic behind abandoning international markets entirely and turning into a mobile developer.

It was particularly galling to see how much properties like Professor Layton dipped in quality. Especially after how amazing the 3DS games were. If the new one turns out well, I'll be on cloud nine.

@weirdregalia The delays were unfortunate (and announcing a ton of new games to be released so soon was undoubtedly stupid), but at least in Fantasy Life i's case, it clearly paid off. The game is huge, a massive improvement on the original in most ways, and it's blowing up on Steam globally.

We'll have to see how New World of Steam and Decapolice turn out, but I'm pretty optimistic about their ability to turn out excellent games. And now, being multiplatform, they have a way wider audience to draw on.

Konami is coming back.

Level-5 is coming back.

And now a new Rayman game?!

The world is healing.

There's something off about the zero suit model. Is that what Samus looks like in Other M? Ugh.

I really need to play it one day so I can form my own conclusions.

It sucks that they fumbled the multiplayer, but the single player gameplay is just as fun as I remember on 3DS. Playing advance access on PC currently. Glad the series escaped the mobile ghetto.

It's a free res/performance upgrade, not a Nintendo Switch 2 Edition. Not sure what people were expecting. 🙄

I actually really loved this generation, but not the performance, so here's hoping this runs at a smooth 60fps.

Honestly, the original is so poorly paced in terms of the larger plot that I'd welcome changes to it.