Rooty

Nice. Never had Excitebike for the 64 but it's been up there on my list of games to experience on the console for a long time.

Oof. This hits right in the childhood. Everything I've ever heard or read about Charles Martinet has painted him as an exceptional human being. A hundred gratitudes for being the voice of gaming for so many for so long.

Labelling anyone an 'Xbox Legend' has the distinct whiff of damning with faint praise about it

It's slightly worrying that I only played this a few years back, loved the heck out of it and yet still can't for the life of me remember what it was that supposedly took place at the start of the game in that 'shocking' train sequence. Or even that there was a train. I may only have room for one video game train intro in my brain, and I think it's been given to Uncharted 2 instead :/

I think Baldur's Gate 3 will probably take it, given the momentum the hype train is building around it at present. Not sure how I feel about a game that's been playable in some form or another for what feels like years at this point taking the award for this particular year, but I'm enough of a fan of the series to overlook that at the end of the day.

I think TotK would have been an absolute lock if it weren't for the fact they recycled so much of the original game in it. It doesn't matter that it's still bonkers creative, I think it's just too easy to dismiss it as copypasta Zelda and use that as an excuse not to give it the top prize.

Playing guess the lookalike with the cast in the image up there has me pretty certain on all of them except the dude to the below left of 'Rick'. I'm guessing that's supposed to be...the Governor, maybe?

I wonder if this will see a race amongst the big publishers to see who can release the 'next' dirt cheap retro roguelike. That could make for an interesting Christmas period.

First game I have ever preordered in my life, based on word of mouth and the fact it's an absolute steal at the price. Played one run so far and happy to report it's as much of a dopamine factory as the reviews suggest. Glorious fun.

I love, love, love Baiten Kaitos with all my heart, but I'd be lying if I said it won't be bittersweet playing it without the narmtastic English voice acting. Most of it was goddawful (looking squarely at you, Lyude) but the voices for characters like Xella, Mizuti and Savyna will live forever in my mind's eye. Or ear.

I owned Contact and completed it years ago, and although I can at least say I've retained a basic knowledge of its name in the intervening time since I found myself watching a playthrough of it on Youtube some months ago and realised with some bemusement I didn't remember a lick of the game's actual content outside of the weird, fourth-wall breaking final scenes. I guess some games are just destined to live outside the range of human memory.

@NinjaNicky The article sort of explains this but I appreciate it doesn't make it wholly clear that they the Japanese Pokemon Stadium 2 is what we received as just plain old Pokemon Stadium. The very first Pokemon Stadium game had far less Pokemon in it and was pretty much considered redundant by the time America and Europe had jumped on the Pokemon bandwagon, so they released Pokemon Stadium 2 in lieu of the actual first game there.

I have next to no deep nostalgia for Quake or any particular fondness for the FPS genre in particular. I think I did have the game on the N64 back in the day but I was absolute cack at it and I've never been back to the series since. At this price however I'm legitimately considering buying it and attempting to rediscover this universal classic, and I hope this release rakes in a tidy profit for Nightdive and all involved. This right here is how you do video game preservation right, here's to many more revisited properties to come

Stumbled back into Rogue Legacy 2 after an extended hiatus away from the game and, gasp, actually managed to beat some bosses! The influx of new goodies and areas this unveiled saw me pretty swiftly back out of the endeavour in sheer dread and return to Yakuza 0. And also that one rhythm game on the Switch with the birds in it and you are also a bird. You know the one. Super Bird Buddies or what have you. It's adorable and you get to jam out with a woodpecker, so sue me.

@JONOFTHEJONS This. This is the content I log on for.

@GrailUK Isn't that the essence of play though? It's an activity you partake in that amuses you yet ultimately nets you no practical gain at the end of the day :/

@Doopuberpoop The ratio of goofball to sane has defintiely gone up over the generations. Mr. Mime was an outlier in gen.1, nowadays it's like two thirds of the roster are made out of sentient plasticine.

Raikou already looked goofy as hell, so can't say this is much of a downgrade. Definitely seems to be a case of the artwork being far superior to the in-game model however.

I've defended this price already once on this site, but good grief companies don't help themselves when they release patronising statements like this that are defiantly tone deaf to the mood in the fandom. I appreciate the executives need their post-holiday bonuses but come on, Take Two, would it have killed you to just do the decent thing for once and drop the price by ten or twenty bucks? When you're already on thin ice with the state of your ports you probably don't have the luxury of sitting there telling customers what they should be paying you.

Not even sure why they bothered putting the original Stadium on NSO when this eclipses it in just about ever way save for its lack of Lickitung-based sushi bar antics. Even without the gameboy conectivity it holds up, thanks in no small part to the hilarious random cup that makes the rubbish rental Pokemon into something of a positive since everyone's lumbered with them all the time.

I know it's nothing but a pipe dream, but if this were to ever lead to them actually localizing the sequel and slapping it on Switch Online I'd be giddy as a spin-dryed Spinda.

Beat the base game once, only to find out it didn't really 'count' as I'd used skills that invalidated the run. Genuinely fun experience, but like a lot of games in the genre it can occasionally be a bit on the obtuse side regarding mechanics which necessitates either way too much time experimenting or poring over online guides to clue you in. Obviously to some that will be an abject positive but for me it eventually became a bit of a frustrating time sink.

Brilliant game, well worth a purchase for anyone who didn't experience it first time round. That said, Rockstar still have a ways to go to dig themselves out from under the GTA Trilogy mess so wouldn''t surprise me if this fails to set the sales charts alight.

I know, I know, that on paper the sequel is just better than Secret of Mana in nearly every aspect. But one thing Seiken Densestu 3 can't beat this game on in is simple, earnest heart. Spending time with Secret of Mana's protagonists is utterly charming from start to tear-jerking end. The fact it looks and sounds gorgeous on top of that is just icing on the cake.

Down to the last ten shrines in Breath of the Wild, and fully intended to have it wrapped up by the end of the week. That was until I fell down a hole named Yakuza 0 and redirected the bulk of my game time to that instead. Technically the only game I've actually played on the weekend so far this week is Smash Ultimate though-I just can't get enough of the adorable bespoke paths for the characters in Classic Mode so I've been forging ahead with those.

I am so excited for this game. That is all.

Even though I voted that Sora was the perfect capper on the DLC and I still for the most part think a third wave would have tipped things way too far over onto the side of needless bloat I'll admit this thread has softened my stance towards a potential Smash sequel thanks to everyone's awesome suggestions. I think Shantae is probably a lock should that happen given WayForward's cosying up to Nintendo in recent years, as is Rayman (though he absolutely remains the world's dullest mascot in my estimation). Surprised to see all the Oatchi love, but I think he'd make a fine second representation for Pikmin as well.

Considering Nintendo have never been particularly shy about shouting their ethos of innovation in gaming I can't imagine what their issue is with being hit up to lend their IP to the twelve hundredth version of the same game.

Sakurai has nearly killed himself multiple times pumping these games out for Nintendo. When he talks about there being nobody ready to replace him I rather suspect he means nobody else is stupid enough to take the gig.

Yggdra Union is a game I played a bit of back on the...I want to say Gameboy Advance? Like a cross between Advance Wars and Fire Emblem but cripplingly difficult. Is this a port/remake or just a separate entry in the franchise? Because it was good and I'd definitely be down for giving it a second chance if it's the formwe.

@ModdedInkling At this point in time, I'd say probably not. I was about twenty years late to the FFVII party and when I finally did get around to playing it it all just seemed so....eh. Times move on, and what was once groundbreaking is quickly superseded by people building on and bettering it. I say this is someone who absolutely rates Final Fantasy VI as one of the greatest video games of all time, but a lot of that has to be contextualised in the era in which I first played it. If you've a deep abiding love for turn-based RPG combat then you might be able to put aside the clunkier aspects of the game, but if you've little to no experience/interest in them I can't see FFVI being the game to change your mind. Great as the story is, it's still delivered in the trappings of early-nineties game design which has evolved significantly since in the genre.

Haven't played it so I don't feel remotely qualified to pass judgment on it score-wise, but I loved Pikmin 1 and 2 back in the day and it's amazing to see the hype there is for this series after twenty years of it just quietly existing as its own Pik-thing.

On a side note, they need to bring those animal companions back into the Zeldaverse. Hyrule needs more kangaroos.

Just imagine if one day they did remake these, but with the originally intended third game as well in a glorious Triforce collection.

@Waluigi451 Anything with a link cable is surely too complex an operation for the Switch Online emulator to handle, and I can't honestly see Nintendo caring enough to divert resources into making it happen unfortunately. Would be insanely wonderful if they did though.

Oracle of Seasons has been the game sitting in my old Gameboy Color in my bedroom for probably the past fifteen years at least at this point. Still works perfectly well, though no doubt it'll continue going unplayed for even longer now I can enjoy these games on the big screen instead.

Good luck explaining this purchase to, well, just about anyone in your life frankly.

I could honestly easily see this happening, but for the fact it would mean advertising Mortal Kombat's existence to legions of eight year olds. Never would have thought Bayonetta would have made it in for instance, and before her Solid Snake. Both characters from quote-unquote mature franchises that would seem at odds with Nintendo's usual family friendly veneer. Mortal Kombat is on another level to those, though, and probably one Nintendo won't ever want this brand associated with.

Bring back Unirally you cowards D:<

Seeing them all laid out like this, it's hard to imagine any other game company ever coming close to matching the mighty N in terms of sheer volume of quality releases. This as an extraordinary catalogue of classics that reminds us all why we fell in love with Ninty in the first place.

I'm someone who has a lot of time for story-driven games/walking simulators but even I would struggle to call the original game 'essential'. It was neat in places, interminably dull in others and the story in itself wasn't exactly thrill-a-minute stuff. Probably won't be dipping back into the world anytime soon.

Played a lot of Smash Ultimate, both online and off and more than a little disheartened to finally discover a Smash Bros character I can say I unequivocally despise. Incineroar. God that thing is hideous to behold. I could almost forgive it if it weren't for the fact Pyroar is right there, guys. Stupid furry Broly. Better believe you're getting picked less than Pichu, pal D:<

Much as people are down on collectathon-style quests these days, I've always loved them provided what you're collecting is unique enough. I adore taking pictures of all the stuff in Breath of the Wild for instance, but the one that immediately sprang to mind for me was finding all the family members to honour an old man's desire for them to be present at his deathbed in Baiten Kaitos. It was such a great way to encourage you to talk to everyone you found in the game and by extension immerse yourself in the game's world.

God bless the internet for babysitting the easily bored of the world.

Sunk a fair amount of time into Smash Ultimate today, only to learn that apparently my one true nemesis is the dread witch Isabelle (seriously that fishing rod can naff right off.). Unlocked a handful of new fighters, ventured into online for the first time and spent some gold points on snazzy Mii fighter costumes after only just learning this week those things come with an expiration date. Ah, Nintendo. You truly are the parent that loveth to take almost as much as you give.

Whether it is a 10/10, a 9/10 or a rhombus/figs what matters most is the actual written content of the review, which should be more than enough for most folks to make a reasonably educated guess at whether they'd like to try it for themselves. Numerical scores can be useful to give a broad sense of a game's quality if looked at in aggregate but that's about all they can reasonably offer and probably shouldn't be used to dictate your spending habits. Besides, I'm pretty sure the antiquated scale used at NintendoLife isn't even capable of accurately reading the game's true score of Pomeranian out of Pomeranian.

Grant Kirkhope will likely always be the first name I think of when I think of a video game composer. So many glorious tunes and memories from one outstandingly creative mind. Reading about the quirks of fate that led him on his journey into the gaming industry and so many peoples' childhoods is wonderful.

@Agent_P spins out and has to wait an eternity for rainbow roadside recovery from a very lazy lakitu

The only question I have is why on earth you'd want to market your game off the back of a mediocre nineties Mega Drive game that barely scrapes by as a punchline for nostalgia geeks these days. It's a questionable sales tactic at best.

Much as I love Kamek I love Wigger just that little bit more. The fact everyone else hates him just means I have to protect my wiggly boy at all costs.

Shows how quickly the gaming world moves on. These may have been considered quality titles when they launched (were they really, though? I honestly don't remember that much buzz around them.) but they're solidly 'meh' tier these days.