Rooty

The only Atelier game I've played is Ayesha, which was and is one of the most singularly charming experiences I've ever had with a video game. And the soundtrack was gorgeous. The fact it's so low down the list makes me suspect I've been missing out.

Lost Kingdoms 1 and 2, since next to nobody played this stellar pair of card battler/action rpg hybrids and they're fully deserving of a second go around and a HD glow-up.

Nice to see Side Pocket getting some love, even if it still rings a bit of 'what're the cheapest licenses we can put on the service'? I can't imagine it's easy or particularly cost-effective negotiating the return of some of these games, so happy to be grateful for what we get at this point. Absolutely looking forward to playing Kirbs 2 and Super Burger Time for the first time as well.

Honestly, the CD-i Link had oodles of personality compared to some of the others. It might be a stretch to call it a great personality, but at least it was existant.

Somehow Sonic the Hedgehog had a series of novels in the UK in the early nineties. They were wonderfully mental and in dire need of a reissue.

Not sure this series even warrants a list given every iteration of the game has been bigger and better than the last. Perplexed at why Smash for 3DS is propping up the bottom of the table but I guess it's a take.

I started Maiden of Black Water back in the day and would genuinely love to give it a second go around at some point, but as seems to be the hot issue surrounding the series I couldn't really get on with the janky (intentional or otherwise) controls and quickly moved on to something else. I like horror games in general, but sometimes it can feel a little too much like you're fighting the software itself rather than the eldritch horrors it's conjured. Definitely one to pick up if the price is right though.

One of the few standout GBA games I've yet to play but wanted to for ages. Can't wait to get cracking :3

Spirit of Justice was just okay compared to the many other stellar entries in the series, to the point I haven't felt particularly compelled to secure the DLC case before they shut up eShop for good on it. I think I'm now in the position of all those fans who hated on Apollo Justice for 'misusing' Phoenix as I thought there was a criminal underusage of Maya, I found the copy/paste judge annoying rather than amusing and Nahyuta is a rubbish rival. At least Klavier had his air guitar. I will say the Winston Payne cameo was a touch of genius though. After Dual Destinies this was a massive step down in quality.

Impressive, albeit perhaps slightly too divorced from the idea of an actual racetrack to work as anything other than a youtube curio. Also, WHERE ARE THE CUCCOS?????

Just discovered the joys of Katamari Damacy so I've been rolling all manner of cosmic bric-a-brac up this morning. After dark hours are currently reserved for The Quarry and/or Resi 2 if I can summon up the willpower to deal with the stupid Tyrant breathing down my neck every other minute. I'm not sure if it's fun or masochism at this point.

While I'm glad it got so much love, and as someone who respects the hell out of both the developers and the franchise, I'll admit to being surprised Metroid Dread is as high as it is. It's good, but it's not that good.

Princess Peach should probably be Princess Peach in the Super Mario Bros movie. Maybe she will be. Also, shrug.

The fact they're even able to get away with charging full retail prices for cloud-only gaming is ludicrous in the first place. A rental service plan for cloud gaming on the Switch would make way more sense, but considering you'd have to have agreement amongst individual publishers and Nintendo likely have no interest in footing the bill for arranging it I doubt it'll ever happen.

The only design I think is an active improvement on the games is Luigi, weirdly enough. Flabbergasted so many people seem to like the Bowser look as well. It's dire.

Reviews for this are all over the shop, seemingly largely dependant on how nostalgic the writers are for classic era Playstation platforming, which for my money was always slightly worse than Nintendo's efforts in the first place. Plenty who'll still find enjoyment here though I suspect.

@Darkcaptain3 I have no way to play it through Steam. Otherwise I would.

Tales of Symphonia is a game I played for about a month solid and then just let fall by the wayside, leaving Phantasia as the only 'Tales' game I've actually finished. It's fine enough but even at the time it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. Might pick it up and try again if it falls to a decent price, but outside of an admittedly decent soundtrack there's not much here that hasn't been done infinitely better in years since its release.

Wood you believe it? Tat's incredible!

Zelda arguably had her best characterisation in Skyward Sword, but I wouldn't say it was her best relationship with Link. Tetra pushing Link around like the little vase-smashing snot he is was miles better in that regard.

Final Fantasy fanfare intensifies

While the shadow dropping of this made for a lovely surprise, it's baffling they don't seem to be putting more effort into promoting this via advertising given Dread's popularity. This is a quality product being sold at a reasonable price that for the vast majority of the Switch userbase is probably as good as a wholly new Metroid game. Nintendo should be shouting the praises of this thing from the rooftops!

Holy heckins this is extraordinary We never got the Baten Kaitos sequel in Europe so to play it has been a gaming dream of mine for literal decades at this point. The first game is one of my absolute favourite RPGs of all time and I never in a million years thought I'd get the chance to play the sequel this way. Sometimes you really do come good, Ninty. Just please don't charge fifty quid a pop for the games like we know you're desperate to ._.

Didn't think this would ever actually happen. What a day to be alive.

I guess it's neat. Generic as all get out but it could be worse. This is likely going to be one safe, inoffensive movie and that's about it. A solid meh out of ten.

This looks incredible, and by some miracle I've still got the copy of Curtain Call I downloaded but never played to tide me over until I can sponge up the funds to pay for Final Bar. A genuine surprise this series has been enough of a success to grow this big but I'm absolutely here for it.

@themightyant A genocide run in Undertale isn't just your average 'defeat enemies as you encounter them' deal though. A player has to be actively dedicated to staying and killing EVERYTHING they can, long after the point most would have moved on in the game. That's what makes it, you know, genocide.

The Metroid Prime Trilogy title screen music. Absolutely no reason for them to have even made a new track to put there, let alone have it also be one of the best damn tunes in the entire trilogy soundtrack.

Accidentally got sucked back into Mass Effect again. I really don't have the time to be playing an entire trilogy of RPGs with the state of my current gaming backlog but c'est la vie, as they say. Still inching at a snail's pace through FE:Three Houses as well, and I'll probably squeeze some Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory in as I mop up outstanding missions and continue to puzzle over how exactly it is you access the Dream Drop Distance story path.

Just downloaded it and had a crack. Must be fifteen years or so since I last played and it absolutely holds up. New players will probably struggle with the obtuse mission requirements more than the controls, but anyone worried this isn't the Goldeneye they remember should find themselves pleasantly surprised. Great addition to the N64 back catalogue.

That Nintendo Seal of Quality(tm) sure is looking a little dusty these days.

On the one hand, good on them for valuing their work and taking steps to ensure they aren't destined for a life as known peddlars of bargain bin fodder. On the other hand LOL CAPITALISM.

Never bought an Amiibo, but that isn't going to stop me being super envious of anyone with a well-stocked collection. Little guys are gorgeous and I do hope they keep making them.

The icons are are such a wonderfully crap 'Nintendo' way of rewarding subscribers I can't help but love them. And the system at least gives me the tiniest glimmer of hope they'll one day revitalise the Badge Arcade concept. I spent an unreasonable amount of time fishing for Fire Emblem character faces back in the day on that.

Engrossed in To The Moon at the moment. Maybe find time to squeeze some Spiderman or Dark Pictures Anthology in later on. And at some point I have to make a date with the Star Fox team and Lylat Wars. Slippy nooooooooooooo"

I'm probably alone here, but is anyone else baffled as to why it's seemingly been decided that 35th Anniversaries are a 'thing' now? It's a blessed odd number to celebrate so it is.

Would genuinely love to know what sort of audience the Pokemon anime has these days, since whenever it's brought up the discussion inevitably seems to revolve largely about how everyone watched the first three or four seasons and then stopped caring. A bit like Power Rangers in that regard. Won't deny there's a pang of nostalgic sadness knowing Ash is finally hanging his cap up though.

Ubisoft are probably the most noticeable publisher to a Nintendo audience to slash their prices frequently. That's why it comes up so often in the comments around here. You could argue Sega are worse but there are at least a few Sonic games that tend to hold their value. With Ubisoft it seems literally everything ends up going for peanuts six months down the line.

Nintendo of America are, I'd imagine, simply blindly following doctrine from the head honchoes in Japan to protect Ninty's intellectual property. Anyone with a degree of sense would appreciate this is in no way harmful to the company's brands or image, but sometimes the letter of the law is easier to uphold than the spirt-especially when your job's potentially on the line. I wonder if this sort of thing travels the other way with companies based in Western regions being perceived as draconian tyrants in Japan.

It's almost like decades of not substantially pushing the formula for the franchise forward have left the dev team ill-equipped to deliver a fresh take on the game. Never would have seen that coming.

Any group that contains the genetic aberration that is Blaziken deserves to be dead last. God that thing is hideous.

Seeing Nintendo characters on a smartphone will probably never stop being a slightly surreal experience for people who grew up during the pre-internet age of Nintendo, but I'd be lying if I said Mario Run wasn't a surprisingly polished and enjoyable timekiller. I don't know if it's overpriced for the mobile market, but then Ninty have never met a price point they couldn't slap an extra fifty percent on.

The fact you have to get inside the top five before any of the Simpsons' virtual output crests the 70-plus percent review score threshold says it all, really. I liked Bart vs the Juggernauts back in the day, mind. Couldn't get anywhere in it, but it was suitably daft to my eight year old sensibilities.

@ketrac Given Nintendo's storied history of making online play as obtuse as possible even when it is included this is pretty on-brand for them. Ah well, at least they have decent single player modes. It always baffled me why the only Mario Party they re-released before this was the one with the least solo play incentives.

We can play these online, right? Please tell me I don't have to go out and entice actual, real, people round to enjoy the party.

@Ninersdad The one that always got me in Eternal Darkness was the body in the bathtub moment when you're playing as Alex. Cripes.

Quite a lot of the Shadowman game was pants-wettingly terrifying to me as a sprog. Specifically the creepy-as-all-getout atmosphere in the 'Playrooms' and pretty much everything to do with 'The Home Improvement Killer'. Jeebers.

Illusion of Time and Terranigma are the only two games that made me tear up as a child. They're both beautiful and sad in a way Square never quite managed with Final Fantasy for me. It would be a crying shame not to see them resurrected for future generations someday, hopefully soon.

After knuckling down and making a concerted effort to pay attention to my surroundings I've finally made headway once more in Metroid Dread, though also returned to Mario Odyssey for a few rogue moon (and balloon) hunts. I swear there is more fun per inch in that game world than is scientifically feasible.

This is one of those baffling 'young people' things, isn't it?