Lived Engage, 3 houses, and pretty much any fire emblem from the 3ds onward(basically after they removed permadeath). This sounds like more of the same which is perfect.

Was planning on waiting a bit, but pulled the trigger just now as the across the board reviews were excellent.

Im all in favor of genai. Will it reduce the need for workers? 100% and thats a good thing. We need to continue to adapt as a society to change.

There will always be a need for artists, but should we have to hire artists for even minor tasks? They cost more and the turnaround time is much longer. Its a waste of resources as well since they could be doing new work.

The concept of programmers losing work is even more silly. I have replaced the need for any high priced programmers at my work with gen ai.(im not in soft dev or even IT, my org would in the past have to outsource for simple solutions)

Ive said this before and will say it again, we shouldnt have to employ people just to employ people. They should be the best resource for the job. If ai does it cheaper and better, they need to do a better job to differentiate themselves. Look inward, dont blame an emerging tech.

As for level 5, I love their work and who knows, maybe they are training it with work developed in house. I couldnt care less how it was made, as long as the product is good.

I dont do kickstarter, but love doublefine titles. Psychonaughts 2 was amazing. Very happy to see them chugging along and look forward to picking up their next title.

@Kilamanjaro 100% agree. Emulation has its place as well and for me(emphasis on me as every person is different), I was not even aware of input lag until i played super mario 64 on the analogue vs the switch(all stars). It felt different, much easier for me to do things on the analogue. Its a measly 4-10 frames, but it mattered to how i play. Was a shock since I also cant really tell frame rate differences between 30 and 60.

For 90% of people though emulation is probably better, and more many game types input lag is absolutely irrelevant.(jrpgs for example)

Im happy we live in a world with both options and also wish nintendo/sega would rerelease their old hardware

@Kilamanjaro Its not the same though. Og n64 look awful on hdtvs assuming you even have the rca inputs. You can mod the n64 with an hdmi but its still meh. Add in an upscaler and your getting closer but the cost is now higher and you still dont have the wireless controllers and plethora of internal options like cpu boost.

For me, its nice to have everything in one package and for it to play physical media.

I sold off my last crt in the 90s and I have no interest in going back. Ive found that I can almost always find a great looking setting on the 3d. Usually the clean version with all the bells and whistles, sometimes stretched, sometimes int+. (Golden is bvm though, scanlines just clean up the mess in that one)

Anyway, the og is fine if your on a tight bugdet and have a crt, otherwise 3d is much superior.

@MARl0 mister is solid but does nothing if your goal is physical gaming. My personal goal is to only play things i have on physical media since it narrows my selection and keeps me focused on specific games. Since shifting to this approach Ive found myself enjoying gaming again.

I picked one up off ebay new for $300 recently on a whim a few weeks ago. I had no games and was not really a fan of the n64 when it came out.

I had purchased a pocket a month earlier and loved it so figured what the heck.

Now Ive started buying random boxed games for it and find myself enjoying gaming again. I still dont like the controller or the controls in general(goldeneye is terrible with controls). I have the nso switch, but i always give that to my kids or friends and use the 8bitdo controller.

The n64 is an amazing local mp console and the analogue makes things look and play amazing on my large oled. Its a pretty easy rec even if you dont have an attachment to the console.

Ofcourse, check back in 6 months and things may have changed. However, im still havnt touched my ps5 pro in about a year and my series x in almost as long.

So profits are up? We all know what comes when that happens. Time for more layoffs! They need to be able to swim in the money like scrooge mcduck

@HeadPirate

Im not a lawyer, but have been working with lawyers for 30 years in a business function.(usually contracts)

So Im not going to cite case law or even consumer law, well get the judges response soon enough which I fully expect to be a tossing of the case.

As for the comment that companies cannot raise their prices whenever they want, that is only partially correct. The switch is a non essential luxury good that has ample competition. It doesnt meet the criteria to limit price changes. Nintendo could charge a million dollars a unit overnight and there is no recourse for a consumer because they chose to buy a non essential luxury good at that price.

This isnt medication, utilities, insurance, or some other form of mandated item.

Im not seeing a seeing a difference. Not even 1....

@HeadPirate The thing is, who actually paid the tariff bill. Consumers unfortunately have no right to receive money they didn't initially pay. We bought from nintendo, nintendo paid the tariffs to import. There is no case here under current law, because even if we paid more, we didnt pay it to the govt we paid it to nintendo.

The only way this doesnt get thrown out would be with an activist judge, and the only way nintendo would even feel the pain would be if people boycotted them for not doing so. Neither will happen, nintendo will win on all counts.

The real losers here though are those outside the us who had their prices increased as a result of the us tariffs. We atleast voted in our stupidity, you guys just got to eat the consequences.

@VirtualVisage87

Strange, I recall buying a lot of vc titles back on the wii, all ala cart, and then having them basically vanish when i sold off the wii and nintendo shut down the vc.

So ya, they kinda do work like that. You buy games a la cart instead if getting them in bulk. I had more options, but it certainly cost me more than the annual fee I pay now and everything was just as emulated as it is now.

@VirtualVisage87 so they could charge you piece by piece for the same content? Hard pass for me on that.

@MARl0 The alternative is downloading illegal roms since 99% of people do not own the games.

Personally Im happier with the option to do things the right way. I have a gaming pc and an xbox ally x as well, but I dont bat an eye at $50 a year(80 for me since i do the family plan) I actually let both my gpu and pspremium subs expire this year after having been a subscriber since the services launched.

Prices in gaming are out of control and nso offers value in multiple ways. Even if you exclude the online access its still a good service for most people.

To me its a solid 7, but it needs to keep the price low. Id also like a proper vb controller please.

So $40 for this old game, but $50 for star ocean, an even older game? Both with minimal updates? And neither with an upgrade option...

Hard pass again on this one. I love the game, but not that much.

I was thinking this was a solid $20 game given what I expect to be barebones updates on an old remake of a very old game.

$50 is insane for this one. I expect itll have 60fps, 4k(upscale), and a token update of a mechanic. Hard pass for me and SO is one of my favorite series.(outside of that awful halfgame they released 2 games ago)

Id like to see this in the us. Only thing stopping me from using mynintendo point is the shipping fees.

Im kinda glad Im in the US for this one. Im all for replaceable batteries, but why not just allow them to be replaced like a ssd? Remove a couple screws and take out the pack.

Having battery packs makes things heavier and more unsightly.

I got a 512 at launch, still not even close to filling it.

I tend to keep only the games I am currently playing on console, so I just never fill it. My home internet is 2gb/s with no cap, so no need to store everything like an archive.

Not sure what my memories of n64 launch could be categorized as.

I was the oddball who got it with pilot wings 64 over mario and to this day think that was the right choice. (I also skipped goldeneye later as I to this day think that one is also overrated)

I was 17 or so at the time, and always had the latest consoles at launch, so my friends were dumbfounded by my choice of games.

I never fell in love with the n64, my favorite game on the console winding up as KI Gold. Something about the soft blurry textures to this day just doesnt sit right with me.

I sold off my n64 in 2006 and never really looked back.

I love all these stories though, its always interesting to hear how innocuous game consoles impacted lives, often in similar ways as some have me over the years. (Im looking at you TG-16 and Sega Cd.)

There are 4 controllers I will never like across all the consoles ive owned since the early 80s.(which is most consoles, even obscure or expensive ones)

1. Jaguar
2. Wii
3. Gamecube
4. N64

I can live with the cdi and 3do controllers, was ok with the akward dreamcast vmu controllers, and loved the duke, but I will never like the 4 listed, and yet i would up buying the n64 and gc classic controllers.

They still aren't good controllers to this day.

Is it just me or does the combat seem slower with every "upgrade"?

The switch 2 version looks like they are fighting underwater.

@AlonditeFE I thought Metallica retired in 1991, did they make another album after Black?

@Kiz3000 Yes, that is the one that I actually skipped for now, Im pretty sure Ill have to do it at some point but I was able to continue to the town without it, but I know its just lurking there, waiting for me and I just dont want to do it. Its been a while now since ive even booted the game up.

As long as they arent mandatory for progression, im perfectly fine with as many as they can stuff in.

When they become like the chocobo games in part 2 I get annoyed.

So well see how this one turns out.

Im all for digital gaming, and that would extend to cloud gaming if not for cases like this. Sorry, but full price for a game only to have it pulled is crazy. They should be entitled to a free upgrade.

Im loving the idea of a new 2d ff game and have no issue with fan service in the form of summonable characters. I just hope its a serious title like ff games are generally known to be.

@Aurumonado GTA is just 1 game, and I am sure a lot of us have little interest in it, especially those who are switch 2 owners.

As a recovering Floridian(i grew up there, left as soon as I was able), I want nothing to do with anything that resembles Florida.

Love my Switch 2, get a lot of play out of it, but definitely could have been a better launch year game wise.

Most games seem to be ports or upgrades, not new titles. While there have been some hits(i loved dk and mario tennis), they are not long lasting games for me. Having Madden was a solid bonus, but not having a new mario platformer was a disappointment.

Hoping year 2 has more solid titles, and with fireemblem on the way it should be.

With the extremely rate exception (secret of mana, ff4-6) I dont ever replay games. Once I hit 400 moons in odyssey i shelved it and havnt touched it since. I have great memories of the game, but 0 interest in playing it.

When I do try to go back to a game, say, witcher 3. I find myself bored very quickly(and often annoyed because it doesnt match my memory of it)

So id have to disagree with the title statement. Just for me though. Every person has a different utility for things, some love souls games with obscure plots, others like narratives told to them. This is just another of those nuances

I love this, and hope they amount to new titles or solid remasters. However, I still don't see phantasy star here. Id kill for an hd-2d or hd remaster of any of the ps games. I personally have a special love for ps3, which I know many disliked, but for me it was way ahead of its time and an all around masterpiece that is always overlooked.

Aside from that, there are so many great sega games out there. I was always on the sega side over nintendo in the old days. So their IPs were better for me. Eternal Champions CD could also use a nice remaster.

I think the review is spot on from the limited time Ive spent with it. I got it on gamepass for my ally xbox x but I cant imagine its any different on any platform.(you could probably put it on the sega saturn with a little effort)

Needless to say, its a fun little title with some repetition. Not great, but surprisingly not nearly as bad as it looks.

@Contes Those kinda sound like you problems. Ive never once detached the joycons by accident in any scenario, the screen is actually quite nice, and the button makes chat easy.

@Bolt_Strike Ill just say, grass is always greener.

I lived abroad (Japan, China, etc) for the better part of 2 decades, and while there were certainly great things there and I recommend everyone who can take a stab at living outside of your home country, I still found my way back stateside for reasons other than politics. There are some things that are just nicer here depending on your own situation.
My wife and I will probably move back to asia when we retire, but for now the US is a good place so long as you ignore politics. (And yes, thats easily done)

Also, Ill say this now, dont let money be a factor in choosing whether or not to live abroad. As long as you have a degree, you have a way. In my case, i moved abroad with nothing but a backpack and a few hundred dollars.(and a job lined up) if you dont have a degree its a bit harder, but not impossible.

Ahh Tariffs, a useful tool in targeted instances and absolutely idiotic when applied in a global way.

I know as an American Ive fully enjoyed paying more for everything I like. Noodles, tea, electronics, car parts, and pretty much everything else.

Only 33 months to go....

Hmm, As someone who doesnt like the gba zelda games and doesnt like any metroid game, I can only agree with the rest of the top 10. Id probably place the golden sun games higher than ffvi, but aside from that, the overarching list is a good reminder that there were some amazing games on that little device.

I dont say this enough, but as an american, Thankyou Europe. First you give us universal type c, now replaceable batteries. Sadly thatll never happen in the us, were too busy finding new ways to pry money out of peoples hands.

@KingMike I personally loved WDs translations. Not because they were accurate so to say, but rather because they were more of a localization than a translation. Popful Mail was brilliant, and The lunar sega cd versions were easily my favorite. The new ones seem kinda mundane by comparison.

As a native english speaker who also speaks/reads chinese and japanese, Im gonna say meh to his opinion that english is simple.

There are parts of any language that are more complicated than other languages. General grammar is probably harder in japanese, but english has its own complexities for nuance.

Also, there is the sheer size of english vs Japanese.

English words - 1,000,000+
Japanese words - ~200,000

I read this as "were making a pc that plays old xbox games" as opposed to being a new xbox.

I mean, there is no reason for devs to make xbox exclusive games when they can make pc games that will automatically run. Xbox itself will become one of many digital storefronts and the console will need to be sold at profit else it doesnt make fiscal sense.

This is MS getting out of the console business without leaving pc, nothing more.

Mario tennis for vb, was waiting for that. Amazing game.

Bought mine in either late 06 or early 07 when I was living in japan. Used it for the japanese to english dictionary software you could get.

Never really played many games until the mew 3ds came out. That said, here I am 19 or so years later and it still runs fine. (Though Its more of a closet piece)

So its basically minecraft with pokemon. Ill pass, no time for builder games. I may pick it up for my 10 year old daughter though, she likes Pokémon and Minecraft.

Nostalgia is so strong here, i may not be able to resist.

I still have my new 3ds xl and its in near perfect condition due to the case and screen protectors i hot for it.

Its been through hell too. 4 years of daily commutes on a bus and then i passed it to my then 3 year old daughter until the switch oled came out and she got my old switch.

Great games, built like a tank, and to this day just a fun little device

Ive got a couple hours into the s2 upgrade on handheld and havent noticed anything. Still gorgeous to me.

Not saying it doesnt have an issue somewhere, but these folks wanting refunds for a $5 update that likely works 95% of the time is a bit silly.

Id have to disagree with all of this list. I didnt like the n64 or gcn mario tennis games at all.

I enjoyed aces a lot, and 3 hours into fever and liking it a lot too. The vb tennis game is solid, as is the 3ds one.

Wii one was meh, never played the wiiu or gbc releases but cant imagine the gbc was any good since its a gbc and all games were kinda meh on that platform.

I stopped playing this game about 5 hours in when it was new. Too blurry for me. So when I saw this in the eshop today I jumped at it.

And Im so happy I did because the game is crisp now. And while I dont really notice the frame rate bump, I absolutely notice the smoothing out of dips. Where it would almost pause in certain scenarios its now buttery smooth.

Normally Id balk at a simple $5 upgrade with no new content, this one was well worth it. Im 2 hours in today and am likely to finish it.

@NeonPizza Mario Tennis was amazing, still is amazing. Easily the best vb game ever made.

Mine arrives monday here in the us. Already got my shipping notification.

Im excited to play it for 10 minutes and then put it up for display.