SillyG

If any publisher ought to be re-releasing their classic games in collections a la Namco Museum, it's Nintendo.

I'll reluctantly settle for individually purchasable games in the absence of that, but I won't pay to merely rent a limited selection of decades-old ROMs.

The Chikorita line is my favourite of all starters, though I wasn't terribly fond of any of their Megas (though I still like it enough for it not to sway me toward the other two starters).

The Tepig line easily has the best shinies though.

@Corvus96 : Apparently so, being an expanded version of X & Y's Lumiose City.

@mikegamer : I was kinda hoping for sewer network exploration, and a game set entirely within a single city would have been perfect for that.

@Patendo : The absolute bare minimum would have been to give us green Joy-Con 2s. The starters and/or Zygarde on the dock would have also been a welcome touch. After the awesome Pokémon themed Switch Lites and the Scarlet/Violet OLED bundle, this is such an uncharacteristic step down from Nintendo/TPCi.

It's a hard pass from me. There are no themed accessories and the bundle is worse value for money than the Mario Kart bundle (as MKW retails for AU$10 more, yet these bundles cost the same). The announcement of paid DLC also cemented my decision to skip the game until a physical DLC release materialises (as it previously did for Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet).

I'm not interested in a digital copy of the game anyway, which further diminished any desire to buy this.

Between the extremely underwhelming physical library (mainly due to the hideously common practice of GKCs) and poor battery life, I'll be holding out for the inevitable hardware revision (the Switch 1 got a new SKU with a better battery not too long after it launched). I might grab third party games that I suspect may go out of print in the meantime (ahead of the actual console), but a handheld PC is looking more and more appealing by the day, and I suspect that Nintendo will lose a lot of their hardcore audience to the competition in the long term if the physical library continues to languish in this way. If I'm not given the option to own third party games on Switch 2, then I'll gravitate to a platform that will. I'll take a DRM-free digital on PC over a GKC, with the only possible exception being a blockbuster game that isn't available on GOG, but it would need to be a bloody top tier game to tempt me, and I've only bought a tiny handful of "download required" games on Switch 1.

I have mixed feelings about this. I did cave and buy the half "physical" wider release on sale (and even that was too damn expensive), and even after all these years, the Switch still doesn't have the DLC, which would have made this release far more enticing.

Meanwhile, I've bought the PC version for peanuts via GOG, and I'll be able to play the definitive version of the game plus the DLC on the go when I eventually grab a handheld PC (along with earlier games in the series), thus rendering the Switch version completely redundant.

Had this been a dedicated Switch 2 port, this would have been a more tantalising purchase, but I'm not so sure that this release is even worth buying so late into the Switch's lifecycle and without any updates for the Switch 2 whatsoever.

I'd easily have double-dipped on a proper full cartridge release of DOOM 2016 though, even without any new bells and whistles.

@Switching : There's no reason to buy both versions as the Switch 2 cartridge is already compatible with the Switch 1.

The Switch 1 cartridge can obviously be used with the Switch 2 as well, but it would be missing the improved assets that are included in the enhanced Switch 2 build of the game.

Slim City 2000?

@FrenchVaniIIuxe : I too love Vanilluxe. <3

I absolutely loved Legends Arceus, but this will be the first main series Pokémon game that I will be skipping at launch. My expectations weren't exactly sky-high, but if they're going to pile on AU$45 DLC to an already expensive AU$110 game, then there better be an option to have said $45 DLC on a freaking cartridge (like they did with Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet).

I could still be tempted if there are tantalising time-limited rewards, but for now, I'll be exercising my patience. Fortunately I have Pokémon Go to tide me over in the meantime, and I look forward to being spoiled about all of the cool new Mega forms.

I wish they'd give us Nintendo-themed film packs instead of just stupidly impractical silicon cases that no-one will ever actually use (I bought the Pokémon bundle a few years ago).

There was a Pokémon film pack, but it was exclusive to China and is out of print (the film also has a best before date), which I'd imported once, but I cannot buy any more of them.

NintenDOOM: Rip and Leak!

@hYdeks : It's the reason why I haven't bought one yet, and I've been a Nintendo loyalist for the last 20 years now. What a shambles this generation is turning out to be.

Even Legends ZA has expensive paid DLC announced before the game's release, making it the first main series Pokémon game I won't be buying at launch since I started buying them in Generation IV. I just hope they issue a revised Switch 2 physical release with the DLC on the cartridge like they did for Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet.

Why are the faces so ugly in both? (More so on the Japanese cover with its bizarre smirks and abundance of potato heads)

I don't like either, and I was fully expecting myself to like the Japanese art too. I prefer the Western art, but just barely.

Pokémon Go - Solosis Community Day
As hosted by one of our local community ambassadors. I'll be hosting a Golden/Mossy PokéStop Bonanza ahead of the Community Day meetup for everyone's Applin, Gimmighoul coin, and item hoarding needs.

@FlyingDunsparce : Only a tiny, tiny minority of Switch 1 games wouldn't have fit on the card. In the overwhelming majority of cases, it was simply a matter of the publisher being cheapskates.

@LikelySatan : The game looks absolutely barren, which seems to be the only reason why it seems to be running so damn smooth. At least Legends Arceus had older hardware to attribute its limitations to.

Laaame.

I'm also skipping this until there's a physical release with the DLC on the cart. I'm not paying AU$110 for a game with half of the content missing and/or tied to an account.

They could have swindled me harder by announcing the DLC after the fact though.

Mario's Super Picross has been available internationally for 18 years and Nintendo have still yet to produce an official translated version for English players. 🤪

Sure, it's playable without, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to read the text after every puzzle?

It's obviously a stealth trailer for their upcoming time attack/life sim game Nintenappies (aka Nintendiapers in North American markets).

Race against the clock to wipe those baby bums clean before they get a rash!

The smell-o-meter accessory will also launch alongside the game. Fragrance cartridges sold separately.

@The_Nintendo_Pedant : Even cheap 3D glasses sounds more appealing than the cheap yet overpriced cardboard alternative that Nintendo are offering.

@Bass_X0 : The latter two paragraphs had nothing to do with my box art preference, though you and at least three others could use some Reading Comprehension DLC.

Bleugh. I don't like either of them. I voted NA on a whim, but at second glance, I definitely prefer Japan.

Either way, with Nintendo paywalling these behind a subscription and a peripheral tied to said subscription, I doubt that I will get a chance to experience this any time soon.

I would have been all over it if Nintendo had deigned to issue a Virtual Boy compilation on cartridge though. I also skipped Mario Kart Live on principle as I loathed the idea of a physical accessory being tied to a download-only game. I loved the concept otherwise.

This whole "distribution" is a shambles. My Pokémon Go community have been complaining about not being able to get codes, even in the morning of the first day of distribution. I hope this extends to Australia as well, as I might be able to pick up a couple tomorrow.

@Cero @JohnnyMind : Unlike Mystery Gift distributions, this is likely a promotional collaboration between TPCi and EB/GameStop, in order to get more feet in the door.

The fact that a purchase is optional is nice, but perhaps counterintuitive to selling more merchandise though. I usually feel obliged to buy something as a token of goodwill. 😅

None of this affects me as I don't own any of these games, but it's good news all the same. I'm especially glad that Nintendo opted for Switch 1 games to run natively on the Switch 2 hardware, and while that has introduced a few challenges for developers (and compatibility issues), the pros seem to vastly outweigh the cons, as older games are given a new lease on life.

Why is Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile on there?

Also, the Asian exclusive Switch 2 release of Tamagotchi Plaza - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition also includes the full game on cart (with English support).

US$50 and it's all on cart?

What the hell is everyone else's excuse after charging US$70?!

I skipped the original (being an LRG release), but I might give this one a shot if it comes to Australia.

It's cute and all, but dear Nintendo, can we get a functional Game Boy Classic now?

I thought the point of GKCs, at least for smaller scale games like these, was to give publishers the option to release them at cheaper prices, but the fact that they frequently cost as much as full-on-cartridge releases is just plain sick. What excuse do they have for charging US$70 for this?!

Meh. It's just a filler week-long "event" without introducing anything substantial, though the ability to acquire legacy moves on previously-caught Pokémon with a normal Charged TM is pretty nice. I'm only keen on farming Chikorita candies as they've rarely appeared in the time since I started playing a year and a bit ago.

@Erigen : The avatars in the promotional materials tend to look androgynous and/or "body positive" these days. Painfully generic too. Outside of what we wear, there's very little to distinguish the avatars.

@Sonicka : That's not how it works. Every Switch 2 update to a Switch 1 game (not including more substantial "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition" releases) utilise the same update across both consoles. As long as Nintendo continues to reprint Switch 1 games, future prints will include the Switch 2 updates on the cartridge.

This just stinks of a rushed release that Nintendo wanted on shelves in time for the Christmas sales rush.

In any case, if Version 1.2 isn't what is shipping on the launch cartridge, I'll hold out for a reprint.

@TryToBeHopeful : Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing this game at what seemed like a very reasonable price, but the fact that the game was online only and still required an NSO subscription instantly killed my interest. In any case, I'm glad I trusted my judgement on this one.

Wasn't this game like AU$30?

Isn't "progress" wonderful?

People are really splitting hairs to avoid giving the games a perfect score. Galaxy 2 passed me by back in the day, so I'm quite looking forward to experiencing it at long last. The improvements to the first game will also compel me to replay that too.

@HammerGalladeBro : You'll be able to pick up from where you left off. Most compilation releases of this kind are no longer consolidated into a single launcher like they used to be, and if the games are downloadable separately via the eShop, it stands to reason that any physical release thereof will also spawn separate icons for the included games.

This is in contrast to 3D All Stars, where the games were not sold separately (digitally or physically), and was only ever available as a single, combined release.

And I just want to know if the Switch 2 features are built into the cartridge or if I'll have to wait for a reprint. The fact that even re-releases of old games get day one updates is so bloody frustrating.

@Lord : No. This new edition of SMG is a separate piece of software entirely and comes with improvements not featured in the barebones 3D All Stars release (which was pretty much just a straight port of the Wii version), so, sadly, no crossover of pre-existing save data. On the flipside, this looks like a great opportunity to play the game all over again.

@HammerGalladeBro : Two separate icons. The digital versions of the game are sold separately after all, and there are plenty of physical releases that spawn separate icons for the included games.

There was a second Japanese release on Switch called "Deluxe Plus", so I'm unsure as to why that was excluded. My understanding is that the only difference is that it included a new dub with the anime adaptation's voices (which explains why it never left Japan). I prefer that cover to the original Japanese art, but I'm a little undecided overall.

Despite its inferiority to other games in the Layton series, I still thoroughly enjoyed this. Plays even better with the stylus though (as included with Brain Training). It's almost a wonder that it hadn't been bundled with one too!

Mega Camerupt makes its long-delayed début in Pokémon Go tomorrow afternoon, so I'll be playing with my local community.

@topsekret : They did the same with SF6. Unfortunately, I've come too far along in my collection to stop here... 😭

@Coffee-Waffle : The last Monster Hunter game on Switch required a download, so it stands to reason that cheapskate Capcom will opt for a GKC for MHS3. Would love to be proven wrong though!

@Suketoudara : Kiwami 1 on a 32GB cartridge via LRG was only US$35 (£26), but sure, the empty cartridge is a "bargain!"

I was referring to the cost of the storage required for the games themselves.

And £29 (AU$60) for nothing on a cart, plus storage costs is hardly a bargain considering that I was regularly spending AU$60 or less on proper physical releases last generation. AU$30 or under is where I just might be tempted (albeit very rarely) on a GKC, though it's still unideal, and it would need to be one hell of a game to tempt me (L.A. Noire was one of extremely few "download required" releases that I caved in on, and only because I was able to find it brand new and sealed for under AU$30).

And SF6 didn't even include the DLC flag on the cartridge itself, which makes the release even more frustrating (and secondhand customers would miss out on that content without an additional purchase either way).

Gotta love the sycophants chiming with "hErE coMe tEh ComPLaiNeRs".

It's amazing how people whinge and moan about those who actually care about upholding some degree of standards in an industry (and customer base) so susceptible to forfeit them to our collective detriment.

No-one's begrudging digital enthusiasts of their choices, so stop begrudging us of ours.

The Switch has been something of a haven of physical media with so many indie games and under-appreciated gems getting their time in the sun, so it's quite disheartening that Nintendo have so monumentally screwed up their handling of physical media this generation (for example, why in God's name are Switch 1 spec cartridges not being used/repurposed for smaller scale Switch 2 games?!), and enabling third parties to release crap products for virtually nothing while passing on substantial costs to the consumer isn't helping the situation.

In this particular case though, I am cautiously optimistic that LRG will pull through with proper physical releases of many of Sega's releases, but it's a pathetic reflection on Sega for not having the backbone to widely release such products themselves, especially with the Switch 2 being such a runaway success (though I suspect that continued GKC releases will only serve to jeopardise adoption of the Switch 2 in the long term).

There's a Switch 2 edition?! Glad I skipped the Switch 1 version, then!

The first three games on Switch (plus a Japan-only mobile game included as a bonus) are available as a physical release, with English support (the bonus mobile game is sadly Japanese only, but still simple enough to enjoy).

I'm kind of tempted to hold out for a physical release of this too (though I might have to wait for another instalment or two for such a release to materialise).

Such silly little games that WarioWare fans would feel right at home in.

@uncleMike : Lowering one's standards to placate those without any doesn't sound like something an intelligent person would do. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@The_Nintendo_Pedant : And you got to love all of the "toward net zero"/"eco-conscious" companies who produce crap products designed to go bust the moment the required-by-law warranty period lapses.

@Friendly : I suspect that even Switch 1 cartridges are faster than Blu-ray, and Nintendo even opted for proprietary discs for the Wii U, which I presume were also faster than Blu-rays, as the entire physical Wii U library was fully playable from the discs, including massive open world games like Watch_Dogs. Only one game, Xenoblade Chronicles X, had the option to download assets directly to the console/hard drive in order to boost performance, however this required an eShop download (rather than installing the data directly from the disc itself). Still optional though!

Oh, yes. Blame load times. As if they've ever given two poops about that before. They could have allowed the game to be installed to the system via data that's already on the cartridge if saving a couple of seconds here and there was considered so disruptive to the gameplay experience.

As handheld players, we're used to accepting a few setbacks for a more flexible gaming experience, so, with respect, cut the BS. It would be a lot less insulting if they would just admit their actual motivation for releasing crappy products for maximum profit, because the standards of video game customers is so laughably low. Who could blame them for continually shifting the goalposts further and further against us? What's worse is that storing the actual games on a micro SD Express card can easily exceed AU$20 in addition to the cost of the GKC!

As long as they're raising the price of games, I have no objections as long as the game is fully on the cartridge. The problem is where prices have gone up by as much as AU$40 for a single game, and for it to ship on an empty cartridge!

Gutted that this isn't getting a proper physical release on Switch 2. The cart's got so much room, that even if both platforms had completely different builds (as opposed to a Switch 1 compatible "Nintendo Switch 2 Edition"), they could have included both to maximise compatibility/value.

At this point, springing for a cart-complete Switch 1 release is like being stuck with a DVD-only option (with no Blu-ray release) all over again.