RenanLK

Switch is their current gen, makes sense to fight against emulators at this point. Hope someone keep a backup of the code for the future, though. Once Switch 3 or something is the current gen, the existence of a Switch emulator to play old games would be great.

I enjoyed it a lot, but for some reason I stopped playing halfway through. Will definitely play it this year, it is the most exciting Pokémon game on Switch (better than Violet/Scarlet IMO). If they added more competition to it (gyms, Elite 4, stuff like that) it would be THE Pokémon game to play.

By the way, is anyone discussing the awful Z-A name?

Backlog it is. So many great games released in previous years to play yet, so I guess that's fine.

That's insane. A rich business without debt in the gaming industry where each AAA cost bazillions to make? No wonder they are excellent talent retainers, Nintendo's execs are apparently some of the very best in this industry!

As long as there is backwards compatibility, feel free to drop Wind Waker and Twilight Princess this year, Nintendo! Just don't release Wind Waker at the end of cycle only to lock it yet again to a previous console gen.

Also, it would be a good moment to explore an Ocarina of Time Remake. Now this would be even more successful than Resident Evil 4 Remake.

@Desa That would be a cool idea! Since it'll be too soon for a new Zelda, a 3D Mario and a 3D Donkey Kong as launch titles would be great!

Streaming games is harder than other media for multiple reasons that have already been discussed a lot. Plus, the business model for sub services is yet to be proved successful for anyone without deep pockets.

I do believe streaming is an option in the distant future, but it's more likely that we'll still buy individual games instead of simply having a sub.

Gameplay is a lot of fun, controls are fluid and it seems to be a rich world to explore.

Only not sold on the graphics so far. I know they went for a cartoonish look, but character designs in particular still look odd, they wouldn't be out of place in the memories I have of PS2. I played the demo on PS5, though, no ideia if the visuals are more consistently good on Switch.

Likely to be correct, but I'm keeping my expectations in check.

The only thing I want from the next Switch apart from better hardware is a more ergonomic layout for portable sessions. Please remember you have adult fans, Nintendo!

To be honest, GTA only resonates with Nintendo gamers if said gamers enjoy realistic shooters. More often than not, this is the public that owns more than one console (or a gaming PC), so it's no big deal.

I love my Switch, but I only buy 3rd party games that have a Nintendo feeling to them. There's no point in getting downgraded ports of games that play better elsewhere.

Can they fix it, though? How many people actually watch The Game Awards for the awards, like the Oscars vs how many people watch just for reveals? Is there enough $$$ to keep The Game Awards for the awards?
I honestly believe that there is only so much you can do with the money and interests of investors...

Now I want Mario & Luigi to come to Switch or the inevitable Switch 2. Nintendo shouldn't drop such an amazing series.

I love this list. I would easily buy most of these games if I had the time to play them.

I don't like blurred SNES-like graphics, but I really enjoy when they modernize it or try new art directions (such as Hollow Knight hand-drawn art). Such a fun subgenre to play!

So is it still safe to start playing Splatoon 3? Or based on history, it's about to be replaced by Splatoon 4?

I really dislike live service games due to this practice of making games unplayable. Paid releases should never become unplayable...

One of my favorite childhood games! I preordered it, but I might need to wait a few weeks to play it since my first son could come any day now. =)

Skyward Sword has the best story in the series, IMO. No other Zelda game had the same impact as I played it on story department.

Live action is an odd choice, but it could work if done right. I'm not very fond of the idea, though.

I'm mostly concerned about the fact that most Zelda games tell a similar story with the same protagonists and antagonist. There's no single "right" story, but they're all legends around the same characters. As a side-effect, many people (particularly children) will expect the movie to tell the "real" story and then be frustrated with the games.

On the plus side, Mario movie made Nintendo translate Wonder to many languages they didn't usually translate to. Hopefully the same happens to Zelda.

Edit: Link will need to have a voice, which is also gonna be odd.

Zelda just consolidated itself as the most important IP after Mario to Nintendo this gen.

Nintendo really deserves the praise when you stop to think about how long these IPs exist and we're still enjoying each and every new game.

TOTK is a great game, but I still believe BOTW is better. BOTW is more balanced, I'm playing it for the 2nd time and now that I'm no longer expecting it to play like a linear Zelda anymore it's just brilliant at every turn. TOTK is like a restaurant that costs a lot because it serves everything, but you can only eat so much before you feel like enough - I had to step down a bit due to fatigue.

I'm curious to see how Nintendo is going to handle Zelda going forward. Clearly there is demand for both styles of Zelda.

Since we're in minor complaints mood:
Dialogues in 2D Mario should be banned, honestly, apart from key events where comedy twists are fun (think Super Mario World after beating castles). Also I don't see the point in walking around to find the next level, what was wrong with the fixed paths in World and Bros 3? If it isn't broken, don't fix it. =)

It would be nice if Switch 2 design made it easier to hold and play on the go. It's heavy and unconfortable to play it in bed, for example. Also, please increase the size of buttons in the Joy Cons. Pro Controller is perfect for many reasons - button size being one them.

Pro Controller, but d-pad instead of analog sticks since I kept doing the butt move by mistake all the time using the analog sticks.

Back here to say there are in fact challenging levels, but they are part of the special world. =)

Already playing it! I do feel like my expectations were a bit too high on this, it's closer to New than it is to World, in my opinion... Sure, the animations and overall looks are brilliant, but in side-scrolling platformers my mind is focused on the obstacles instead of characters so I miss most animations while playing. The reason why I'm slighly disappointed is because so far no level design was particularly outstanding (I'm in W2).

It's a fun game, though, and a great Mario game. I'd give it a solid 8/10.

It would be a good answer if anyone at least mentioned previous events. They're actually teaching Calamity Ganon in a school as if no one remembered...

Honestly, the game is brilliant, but it barely has any connections to anything that came before. I just saved the Goron leader that inherited that shield skill from his dad in BOTW - where did his special skill go?

I have a digital-only PS5 and no regrets. Ever since PS4, all my games have been digital purchases, so yea, I would go for a digital-only Switch 2.

However, Nintendo must improve its policy regarding past-gen games in the digital store. Both Sony and Microsoft already have a history of improving their online stores and keeping past-gen games playable by now, but Nintendo still has to prove that we won't lose our games once Switch 2 comes up.

Music from old games just hit differently. It might just be the nostalgia factor, but I believe modern games simply dropped music in favor of ambient sounds and the industry is worse for it.

I'm so looking forward to playing this game!

Sure, throw away Super Mario RPG remake, Wonder and Tears of the Kingdom locking them to Switch. Honestly, BC should remain a thing forever from now on, as far as I'm concerned, at least for all the most essencial games. Got it once? It's yours, even though you can buy remakes down the line if you wish, and it plays in the latest system. That would be my dream.

Happy for those who enjoy football/soccer! These used to be a cash grab in the worst possible way every year...

Well, damage is already done. If I were a dev studio, I would look into alternative engines for any future games.

@iconmaster Sounds like Microsoft's plan as well. 😅

I hope the hardware specs are somewhere between PS4 and PS5 plus upscaling technology to feel/look similar to PS5, but more efficiently to enhance battery life on the go.

I hope it sells extremely well so we can dream of Super Mario RPG 2.

This is Nintendo. I trust their quality blindly - even if it ends up as 30fps I'm sure it'll still play perfectly and be a lot of fun.

It's odd, your summary sounds exciting but both during and after the direct, I was bored with what was on display... The Peach game looked surprisingly good and Paper Mario is back to its roots, but these are hardly "OMG!" revelations.

@samuelvictor Totally agree with you, racing games were either changed into GTA-meets-Fast-and-furious or ultrarealistic-driving-simulators.

This reminds me of Top Gear on Super Nintendo. The soundtrack just plays on my mind automatically even after all these years and the game was a lot of fun to play.

I loved these back in the days, but they should have created a new one instead of remaking this. It looks awful, especially compared to Wonder and the Peach game.

It might have a chance if it has the right price, but Nintendo will probably ask for $59.99 which is at least 50% more than acceptable.

Can they retroactively apply this? Sounds illegal to me in some countries. I'm worried that some games will be removed from digital stores due to this...

As for the future, well, they're taking a cut of sales instead of a fee for development, so it's a matter of how much will a given studio spend to develop their own engine vs Unity pricing.

Edit: Just read the article again and on second though Unity will die for sure unless they replace install count with purchase count. I mean, what's next? "You can only install this game 5 times license"?

It kinda feels like Embracer Group is just a group of investors that bought the studios to sell them later and maybe make a profit without bothering with games at all.

Splatoon always looked so interesting, but I could never justify a purchase due to barely playing multiplayer these days. If they invested heavily on both single and multiplayer modes, I could change my mind.

I smile everytime I notice a connection to any previous game I played, but that's pretty much it. Each Zelda game is brilliant in its own right.

Personally, I consider the timeline as a linear sequence of legends repeating the cycle of Demi-goddess+Chosen-hero vs Demi-god-villain so far apart from each other in general that they're standalone stories.

The only real sequels are usually tied to the same gen.

• Link to the Past/Link's Awakening
• Ocarina/Majora
• Wind Waker/Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks
• Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom

And of course Skyward Sword starts the cycle since that was stated in the game itself.

Can't wait! It's looking so good! Not a huge fan of elephant Mario, though, would rather have a suit instead since the character animations are lovely.

It's surprising how great Ubisoft can be when they think outside the box they created with AC. It's such a shame that games became so expensive to create that they either have the potential to sell bazillions or they're dropped.

Thanks for everything, Charles! Your Mario voice will continue to trigger great memories forever.

I hope that Nintendo embrace this opportunity to add localized Mario voices for all countries now.

@stevep Perhaps it's a different reality where you live, but yes, I need to sell current consoles to buy next ones or it's just way too expensive to buy from scratch. It's also harder to justify a purchase any sooner than 2-3 years after launch if I were to keep current console, since there are way more games to play and replay in the current console's library.

Reasonable thinking, but still it's up to Nintendo at the end of the day, and they have been quite good with BC historically. The question mark lies on how they'll handle eShop.

That said, with BC the Switch 2 could start with almost all the Zelda and 3D Mario games plus whatever it offers on launch period (likely a new 3D Mario). That's an insane library from day 1.

No money from me until they reach Nintendo standards. GameFreak completely lost me after this mess of a game.

The only game that could raise numbers this high is a new Zelda, but this card is gone since Tears of the Kingdom just released.

It might eventually get there after Switch 2 is out, though. Especially if Switch 2 is not compatible with Switch games, since a lot of players will stick to the Switch a few more years to play their backlog.

@SwitchVogel Sounds good to me. Thanks!

@SwitchVogel What is the length of this game? Not expecting it to be very long, but if it's too short and too easy, then I might wait for a sale.

@Ogbert Agree completely. That's why the DS games were revolutionary for me. I could FINALLY trade Pokémon online in-game and try to get all the Pokedex (or most of it).

That said, it's about time they make complete self-contained games. Trading gets more and mote boring every iteration.