I've been disappointed by how well the console has been selling.
Truly, the worse the company gets, the more the average consumer proves that Nintendo can get away with actual murder.
They're now little more than a financial organization that occasionally puts out games and hardware. The interviews regarding Mario Kart World and the reason they're pushing the worst of their content is a harrowing example of how far gone they are now.
To be honest, as a long-time Nintendo patron and PC gamer, the Steam Deck has been the much better experience overall.
Nintendo has been down this road before, taking their blue ocean success for granted. Every time they have tried to push for powerful hardware, the system failed commercially. N64 and Gamecube underperformed. The Wii U was unable to be salvaged. The 3DS almost flopped until they dialed back the price of the console. The games themselves weren't outrageously priced, which is what helped it bounce back.
If you look at how Nintendo did their Nintendo thing of making digital purchases worse than they originally were, it all comes off as gross and controlling. This implementation cost real money to develop, and it only amounts to a worse customer experience.
Contrast that to Steam's updated Family settings, where you don't need to manually "loan" a game out, family members can just play the game and you can play something else. And to add to that, Valve recognizes that people's buying power is what truly translates to game sales numbers, which is why sales happen often, perpetually, and with vast amounts of deep discounts. I have bought games that were originally $60 for $5, because only then could I justify a more impulsive purchase, which is a position more people are in than not.
That being said, Nintendo has also cultivated its own cult, both inside the company and on the consumer level. We went through an entire console generation now where there was no Nintendo Selects, no deep discount for flagship titles that are now ages old, and are far past their hype/launch/fomo window that will never see a surge in sales because the company justifies some nonsense "evergreen value".
There are quite a few games I haven't purchased just because that extra $20 per game adds up, even more quickly with the growing list of first party games that I'm passing up. This includes the awful pricing of the NSO expansion pack, which is insanely predatory, because it preys on people who refuse to look into or consider alternatives, even when the experience no longer reaches the accuracy and performance standards Nintendo used to have for releasing their retro content.
Going back to the Steam Deck, the most I've had to put in was a bit of time to figure a small problem out, but the payoff to that is orders of magnitude better than having to deal with Nintendo's ecosystem, whether it's their broken eshop, or their predatory pricing. And I don't have to pay anything to play online with my friends on a Steam Deck either. Comparatively, NSO adds nothing to online play, and is functionally purely a game rental service. As someone who works in the tech field, I deeply detest the paywalling of features that people already pay an ISP for access to in the first place. I pay my internet bill, why do I have to pay someone else for me to use my own internet, at a peer-to-peer connection level? At least Microsoft could justify this by having their own servers that handled matchmaking and game chat. Nintendo does literally nothing of the sort.
So yes, the only thing the Switch 2 has aside from being more performant is that it comes with a mouse, and you can still get that with the Steam Deck, because it supports USB peripherals. Iwata's death and Reggie's parting the company has let Nintendo fall down a dark path. They are becoming more like all the worst parts of Sony with every passing day.
@msvt that happens 100% if they're put on backwards, which is genuinely too easy to do. I did that to mine once, before I noticed the markers on the straps that show the correct orientation. 😫
My specific use case for the straps are with games that use the shoulder buttons on the controller, like in Smash Bros. or NSMBU DX, just because it lets you press SL and SR more easily. Great for if you're out and about, and can't carry around extra controllers.
I'll have to give this one a try. Now that I've completed just about everything, I'd like to enjoy the game without worrying about farming for weapons.
I'm torn. I'd be interested in a 3D remake, but I don't think they'd put the resources in to make the animations feel right. I'd trust a company like Arc System Works to do that with the visuals instead.
For what talent Square does have, I'd feel more comfortable asking for HD-2D.
I didn't see it mentioned in the review, but if there isn't any option for gyro controls, that's definitely a hugely limiting factor. I feel like games like this would be required to lean on that, or to have an option to use keyboard/mouse on the console.
I could imagine two scroll wheels, one vertical and one horizontal that you would control using your ring fingers on the back of the controller, but that may only fit a Pro controller type layout.
I'd hack my original Switch for sure. There's quite a few things I'd like to do, like take advantage of better training mode mods for Smash, or portably access some of the neat homebrew games that people have put out or ported to Switch.
After too many experiences with theft, I mainly keep a digital library with very few exceptions. That leaves what little space I have suited for having more controllers to use instead.
I'd have to dock off a couple of points, sadly. The two biggest issues with this game go hand-in hand:
1. The visuals, while fantastic, create areas that are so poorly lit, or shadows that are entirely too dark that unless you already know the map beforehand, navigation becomes an absolute nightmare.
2. The beams not emitting light onto the environment compounds the first issue, where some darker areas could be exored through use of "making your own light", but with that gone, now you really have no chance unless you're a veteran of this game.
3. There is no option to fine-tune the brightness of the game as a whole, so there's not even a hope to fix it if you wanted to.
I much prefer digital purchases for not having to locate my physical games. And I was counting my blessings when my 3DS and my Switch were stolen at the same time. I only lost my Mario Kart physical copy, and was able to re-download all the rest of my games when I got replacement consoles. And for the Switch, I was able to keep my save data, too.
Oh wow, my collection is probably about 80% the size of his. I'm glad I'm not the only one with 5 Dualshock 3 pads, 5 Wii remotes, and 5 Gamecube pads. 😂
Most 1st party Nintendo games tend to leak before the street date, just because vendors for physical copies need the stock on-hand for release day. Really, any game with a big enough hype train has this happen, just because no workplace has 100% good-noodle employees.
Hell, I went and bought Skyward Sword after I beat it - which was before its original release date. I was hell-bent on not getting any spoilers at all. Lmao
You don't have leave the site, mate. It was famous enough of a discovery to be published here, and there was evidence of Konami doing something similar with some collection on GBA if I recall the details right. Something about pirating and selling an emulator without so much as crediting the author, and switching two lines of code around that consequently made the emulator less efficient. The homebrew community had a field day with that one.
Again, seeing people preach about the "damage" that gets done as if they have an actual investment in the history of the game industry as a whole. Nintendo pirated their own roms and sold them to people because they didn't preserve their own code.
It's neither black nor white. It's a really muddled mess, and to claim otherwise is simple ignorance.
The root of it is that companies aren't held accountable for their practices, and it doesn't matter if it's Denuvo or Nintendo. They both lie to make money at our expense.
That, and Day One piracy didn't stop games like Metroid Dread from overtaking Metroid Prime as the top-selling game in the series. If anything, it further solidifies the data in the Valve piracy study that clearly outlined how piracy comes up as a service and price point issue. They ran the study to show that pirates in general are willing to purchase things legitimately if it's affordable, and if the experience is generally positive when done legitimately.
This would also contrast with Denuvo's DRM impacting sales negatively for games like Resident Evil VIII and Sonic Mania due to game crashes and performance issues that Denuvo repeatedly denied were the case. The pirated versions ran correctly, and the retail-purchased games did not function until the Denuvo code had been removed through an update. Then, sales went UP as prospective purchasers (which includes people who pirated the games) learned the issues with the retail release were fixed.
There is simply so much history and data that the people who are whining on here are completely ignoring to support their own White Knighting of things they know less than nothing of, because all they're pushing is misinformation, falsehoods, or otherwise misguided opinions just because someone did something they didn't approve of.
I know it's my fault for looking in the comments section in the first place, but too many of these bad takes is bound to give me an aneurysm.
Honestly, any article on this site that could start a discussion about piracy should have its comments section locked. People who are anti-emulation would really benefit to learn about how the homebrew and rom dumping scene is the primary reason why Nintendo had rom files for the virtual console, dating back to the Wii era's Super Mario Bros. Rom having the hash ID of a public dump, and not an internal one.
Anybody defending these "anti-piracy" issues have no idea how much the industry has benefited from the piracy scene, and made money from the efforts of the homebrew community, who often have a staunch rule about homebrew being free and accessible.
It's heartbreaking that people making themselves out to be Defenders of All Things Holy are unaware of how self-destructive their closed-minded views are, and how deeply this mindset hurts not just the community, but the gaming industry as a whole.
Denuvo already has an atrocious track record of forcing people to pirate games in order to make them playable again. People saying "just make the devs optimize for Denuvo" have absolutely no idea what makes Denuvo the cancer that it is. It cut into Sonic Mania and Resident Evil sales because of how the software acts like a virus, and holds the resources of machine it's running on hostage.
The switch can barely play its own games without this handicap.
I'm so glad someone mentioned Daikatana. Romero's got vision, but his execution has an awful track record. Best wishes, though. I'd rather he get his moment to shine instead of being the butt of yet another post-ID joke.
There's a lot that goes into it, but it's definitely largely Nintendo's actions that led to this.
If we take into account business differences, Sony and Microsoft often do deep discounts on major first-party releases, and in some cases, free releases when you're subscribed to their premium services. Nintendo rarely offers a discount of up to 30%, compared to other companies slashing their prices 75+%, which also means used games in game stores are often cheaper than even Nintendo's own steepest digital discounts, as opposed to the reverse being true with Sony and Microsoft's digital stores.
If Nintendo's service were better priced, people would be going digital, and if Nintendo's included storage had been better, it would additionally lean into more sales. This is very much an ancient practice, by all standards.
I can imagine the reason the save pak isn't getting saved on close has to do with the memory being held in the emulator's ram, and there is no function being called on by the app itself to write to a save pak file. You'd likely have to find the pointer to where the save pak data is in memory, and call a modified function of what the app uses to write the cart save file.
@mereel I imagine not too many people know the extent of which Mario 64 has been able to get modified thanks to the porting project for it, but...
We've now been able to experience all sorts of wild things that emulators simply would never have given us the chance for, such as fully modular and controllable camera settings, native dynamic resolution scaling without having to resort to mods for even the simplest of things like making sure the UI doesn't turn into a gross disgusting stretched or muddy mess, and all sorts of wild things.
Having something like this run natively also means you don't have to deal with issues that are very real even with modern emulators, such as power requirements for accurate emulation, delay for sound, video, and inputs, potential emulation inaccuracies, or having to go through lengthy tutorials just to fine-tune your settings for the game to work correctly.
The SHADE that got thrown at the Switch Expansion Pak at the end, though!!
Of course, native will have a better chance at working well over emulation, but the rest of everything looks pretty crisp. These reverse engineering projects are really shining a light on how bad official efforts at video game preservation have been.
I'm surprised nobody brought up the fact that Turok, while not emulated, is remastered on the eshop with fog that got pushed so far back you can see unintended things, like caves floating in the sky, or whole other sections of the map that are disconnected from where you currently are.
"Length" can only really be estimated, and the quality of the content can drastically change the real amount of time someone spends on a game, whether it's a completionist run or grinding out routes for speedruns or alternative experiences.
I recall my first time beating Super Metroid with an in-game time of 12 hours, without getting 100% items back in 1998/99, which technically puts it at maybe the 15-20 hour mark if I went to look for all the items without additional help. Now, the in-game time can read 90 minutes with 100% items due to lots of well thought-out routes for minor enthusiasts, much less hardcore speedrunners.
But like, how many hours did the speedrunners themselves grind the game out just to come up with those routes? 100 hours? Over 1000 hours? Most likely a lot of these people who enjoyed this 12 hour game have put in well over 5000 hours or more for just one game of the series.
At the end of the day, the length debate comes off as ignorant of what exactly experiencing a game is. They're honestly so much more than that.
@Vexx234 I think you miss the other point I made, which is a Skyward Sword that doesn't use motion controls is simply not Skyward Sword. You're asking for a new legacy Zelda title, but wording for it to replace Skyward Sword. You can say all you want "they can boot up up the game and enjoy it", but that wouldn't really be the case anymore (for this remaster, at least) if your request was fulfilled.
I'm really not sure how large or small a task you think that hope is. Even if you feel it to be simple, it's still a spicy take.
@Vexx234 it's sort of a weird veiwpoint from this game in particular. It's like asking for Splatoon to be a Mario game, just from how intricately motion has been attached to the design of Skyward Sword. Realistically you have the engine successor to this game, which is Breath of the Wild, where motion is no longer mandatory, but still a nice addition.
Removing motion entirely would be creating a different game by that point, and I think on a subconscious level, that's what bothers people about your statement. 🤔
It's so nice to see this old art getting reused. I loved the horrifying nature of it back when it was promotional material during its XBLA release window
Interestingly, the QoL improvements still don't make this game good for anyone except people with goos hand/eye coordination and a sense of space.
This is by far my favorite Zelda, but I also realize people's issues with the controls were due to a lack of understanding of how they were calibrated. Hell, it took me three playthroughs to completely understand the conditions in which it seemed the calibration broke. After finding that out, I stopped having calibration issues (no one's calibration breaks in the Wii game, as it turns out. People just naturally shift positions over time while playing). I never would have thought before this game that motion controls could be TOO accurate.
@EarthboundBenjy I know Terraria is supposed to add in keyboard and mouse support for all console versions at some point. Not sure if it's happened yet, tho.
Something being addictive does not equate to it being good. Most of the people defending RPG/JRPG grinding are simply addicted to it, the same way people get addicted to gambling. It's meant to exploit you, and it does so efficiently.
True grind is action and skill grind, where you as a person outside of the game become better, even if "leveling up" means you're in general better and smarter at playing games. At least that's something that transfers to other things a person does.
That being said, people are going to consume whatever they feel like consuming, regardless of whether it's good for them or whether it respects their time.
@Eel honestly, that is the one real counterpoint that exists. Not that it would stop even lazier people who don't want to item grind for that, but I definitely would rather they implement the move/stat verification feature to mitigate actual cheating.
And I'm also not saying that flooding wonder trade with shiny legendaries doesn't detract from the game's intended experience, only that there isn't an accessible alternative without the use of such tools. For a franchise this old, there needs to be something better than "transfer your pokemon repeatedly up from 8 generations of games you may or may not have kept until you can access Pokemon Home, and then you don't actually own them despite them being yours"
@TheLightSpirit If you're willing to read my replies, you might find that I am against cheating, and I state as such in them. You might also find out that what you're stating glosses over the reason why you're experiencing the problem that makes you upset in the first place. And hate is such a strong word, too. If anything, it's disappointing, especially when considering the team has the capability of making a functioning product.
Maybe it's lost on you when I say I speak from a place of love and experience. All I'm saying is your disdain is misplaced, and the reasons why it is. You refused alter your stance based on information and several perspectives. This is ultimately your own problem, and all I've been doing is attempting to provide you with even the slightest bit of insight. No need to take your frustrations out on me, or other commenters for that matter.
Comments 83
Re: Talking Point: One Month On, How Did Nintendo's Switch 2 Launch Go?
I've been disappointed by how well the console has been selling.
Truly, the worse the company gets, the more the average consumer proves that Nintendo can get away with actual murder.
They're now little more than a financial organization that occasionally puts out games and hardware. The interviews regarding Mario Kart World and the reason they're pushing the worst of their content is a harrowing example of how far gone they are now.
Re: Opinion: Steam Deck Fans Are Seriously Underestimating The Switch 2
To be honest, as a long-time Nintendo patron and PC gamer, the Steam Deck has been the much better experience overall.
Nintendo has been down this road before, taking their blue ocean success for granted. Every time they have tried to push for powerful hardware, the system failed commercially. N64 and Gamecube underperformed. The Wii U was unable to be salvaged. The 3DS almost flopped until they dialed back the price of the console. The games themselves weren't outrageously priced, which is what helped it bounce back.
If you look at how Nintendo did their Nintendo thing of making digital purchases worse than they originally were, it all comes off as gross and controlling. This implementation cost real money to develop, and it only amounts to a worse customer experience.
Contrast that to Steam's updated Family settings, where you don't need to manually "loan" a game out, family members can just play the game and you can play something else. And to add to that, Valve recognizes that people's buying power is what truly translates to game sales numbers, which is why sales happen often, perpetually, and with vast amounts of deep discounts. I have bought games that were originally $60 for $5, because only then could I justify a more impulsive purchase, which is a position more people are in than not.
That being said, Nintendo has also cultivated its own cult, both inside the company and on the consumer level. We went through an entire console generation now where there was no Nintendo Selects, no deep discount for flagship titles that are now ages old, and are far past their hype/launch/fomo window that will never see a surge in sales because the company justifies some nonsense "evergreen value".
There are quite a few games I haven't purchased just because that extra $20 per game adds up, even more quickly with the growing list of first party games that I'm passing up. This includes the awful pricing of the NSO expansion pack, which is insanely predatory, because it preys on people who refuse to look into or consider alternatives, even when the experience no longer reaches the accuracy and performance standards Nintendo used to have for releasing their retro content.
Going back to the Steam Deck, the most I've had to put in was a bit of time to figure a small problem out, but the payoff to that is orders of magnitude better than having to deal with Nintendo's ecosystem, whether it's their broken eshop, or their predatory pricing. And I don't have to pay anything to play online with my friends on a Steam Deck either. Comparatively, NSO adds nothing to online play, and is functionally purely a game rental service. As someone who works in the tech field, I deeply detest the paywalling of features that people already pay an ISP for access to in the first place. I pay my internet bill, why do I have to pay someone else for me to use my own internet, at a peer-to-peer connection level? At least Microsoft could justify this by having their own servers that handled matchmaking and game chat. Nintendo does literally nothing of the sort.
So yes, the only thing the Switch 2 has aside from being more performant is that it comes with a mouse, and you can still get that with the Steam Deck, because it supports USB peripherals. Iwata's death and Reggie's parting the company has let Nintendo fall down a dark path. They are becoming more like all the worst parts of Sony with every passing day.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Introduces Thrilling Series First "Real Time" Battles
Wow, Pokemon is finally catching up to the PS3 game Ni no Kuni.
Re: Poll: Will You Trade In Your Switch When Switch 2 Arrives?
My Switch is a hackable model, so I can get into enjoying it more once I get the Switch 2.
Re: Poll: Does Anyone Actually Use The Switch Joy-Con Straps?
@msvt that happens 100% if they're put on backwards, which is genuinely too easy to do. I did that to mine once, before I noticed the markers on the straps that show the correct orientation. 😫
Re: Poll: Does Anyone Actually Use The Switch Joy-Con Straps?
My specific use case for the straps are with games that use the shoulder buttons on the controller, like in Smash Bros. or NSMBU DX, just because it lets you press SL and SR more easily. Great for if you're out and about, and can't carry around extra controllers.
Re: New DIY Kit Aims To Revive The "Classic GameCube Controller Feel"
If they end up offering a $50-ish budget option, I'd be such a happy camper.
Re: Random: Tears Of The Kingdom's Unbreakable Master Sword Reclaimed With Very Complicated Glitch
I'll have to give this one a try. Now that I've completed just about everything, I'd like to enjoy the game without worrying about farming for weapons.
Re: Soapbox: 20 Years After His Last Mainline Appearance, Tingle Deserves A Comeback
I'd want his return, but I'd also demand Tingle's Rosy Rupee Land get a remaster.
Re: PSA: Smash Bros. Pokémon Scarlet And Violet Spirits Now Permanently Available
@PikminMarioKirby
Yes, they're all able to show on the Spirit Board.
Re: Talking Point: HD-2D Or 3D - How Should Square Enix Remake Chrono Trigger?
I'm torn. I'd be interested in a 3D remake, but I don't think they'd put the resources in to make the animations feel right. I'd trust a company like Arc System Works to do that with the visuals instead.
For what talent Square does have, I'd feel more comfortable asking for HD-2D.
Re: Review: Wrath: Aeon Of Ruin (Switch) - Impressive Quake-Like FPS Is A Bad Fit On Consoles
@LikelySatan Oh geez. I hope they are able to patch and resolve that.
Re: Review: Wrath: Aeon Of Ruin (Switch) - Impressive Quake-Like FPS Is A Bad Fit On Consoles
I didn't see it mentioned in the review, but if there isn't any option for gyro controls, that's definitely a hugely limiting factor. I feel like games like this would be required to lean on that, or to have an option to use keyboard/mouse on the console.
Re: Talking Point: Which Feature From Each Smash Bros. Game Should Make A Return?
If there's one thing I want from a previous Smash game, it's the return of Twilight Princess Link, or adult Ocarina of Time Link.
Re: Random: Sakurai Wanted The GameCube Controller To Include A Scroll Wheel
I could imagine two scroll wheels, one vertical and one horizontal that you would control using your ring fingers on the back of the controller, but that may only fit a Pro controller type layout.
Re: Talking Point: If 'Switch 2' Is Backwards Compatible, What Will You Do With Your Switch?
I'd hack my original Switch for sure. There's quite a few things I'd like to do, like take advantage of better training mode mods for Smash, or portably access some of the neat homebrew games that people have put out or ported to Switch.
Re: Talking Point: How Do You Store Your Games Collection?
After too many experiences with theft, I mainly keep a digital library with very few exceptions. That leaves what little space I have suited for having more controllers to use instead.
Re: This Kirby's Dream Land 2 ROM Hack Adds Colour To The Game Boy Classic
Removed
Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Metroid Prime Remastered?
I'd have to dock off a couple of points, sadly. The two biggest issues with this game go hand-in hand:
1. The visuals, while fantastic, create areas that are so poorly lit, or shadows that are entirely too dark that unless you already know the map beforehand, navigation becomes an absolute nightmare.
2. The beams not emitting light onto the environment compounds the first issue, where some darker areas could be exored through use of "making your own light", but with that gone, now you really have no chance unless you're a veteran of this game.
3. There is no option to fine-tune the brightness of the game as a whole, so there's not even a hope to fix it if you wanted to.
Re: Random: Masahiro Sakurai Says He Prefers To Buy Video Games Digitally
I much prefer digital purchases for not having to locate my physical games. And I was counting my blessings when my 3DS and my Switch were stolen at the same time. I only lost my Mario Kart physical copy, and was able to re-download all the rest of my games when I got replacement consoles. And for the Switch, I was able to keep my save data, too.
Re: Random: Masahiro Sakurai Shows Off His Impressive Controller Collection
Oh wow, my collection is probably about 80% the size of his. I'm glad I'm not the only one with 5 Dualshock 3 pads, 5 Wii remotes, and 5 Gamecube pads. 😂
Re: Random: Valve's Latest Steam Deck Trailer Briefly Shows A Switch Emulator
Nintendo does its best work when they're sweating bullets. And when they're not sweating bullets, they're outright anti-consumer. Let 'em sweat.
Re: Uh-Oh, Splatoon 3 Appears To Have Leaked Online Ahead Of Its Release
Most 1st party Nintendo games tend to leak before the street date, just because vendors for physical copies need the stock on-hand for release day. Really, any game with a big enough hype train has this happen, just because no workplace has 100% good-noodle employees.
Hell, I went and bought Skyward Sword after I beat it - which was before its original release date. I was hell-bent on not getting any spoilers at all. Lmao
Re: Nintendo Is Apparently Not Involved In The New Switch DRM Initiative
You don't have leave the site, mate. It was famous enough of a discovery to be published here, and there was evidence of Konami doing something similar with some collection on GBA if I recall the details right. Something about pirating and selling an emulator without so much as crediting the author, and switching two lines of code around that consequently made the emulator less efficient. The homebrew community had a field day with that one.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/01/video_the_surprising_origins_of_the_wii_virtual_console_super_mario_bros_rom
Re: Nintendo Is Apparently Not Involved In The New Switch DRM Initiative
Again, seeing people preach about the "damage" that gets done as if they have an actual investment in the history of the game industry as a whole. Nintendo pirated their own roms and sold them to people because they didn't preserve their own code.
It's neither black nor white. It's a really muddled mess, and to claim otherwise is simple ignorance.
The root of it is that companies aren't held accountable for their practices, and it doesn't matter if it's Denuvo or Nintendo. They both lie to make money at our expense.
That, and Day One piracy didn't stop games like Metroid Dread from overtaking Metroid Prime as the top-selling game in the series. If anything, it further solidifies the data in the Valve piracy study that clearly outlined how piracy comes up as a service and price point issue. They ran the study to show that pirates in general are willing to purchase things legitimately if it's affordable, and if the experience is generally positive when done legitimately.
This would also contrast with Denuvo's DRM impacting sales negatively for games like Resident Evil VIII and Sonic Mania due to game crashes and performance issues that Denuvo repeatedly denied were the case. The pirated versions ran correctly, and the retail-purchased games did not function until the Denuvo code had been removed through an update. Then, sales went UP as prospective purchasers (which includes people who pirated the games) learned the issues with the retail release were fixed.
There is simply so much history and data that the people who are whining on here are completely ignoring to support their own White Knighting of things they know less than nothing of, because all they're pushing is misinformation, falsehoods, or otherwise misguided opinions just because someone did something they didn't approve of.
I know it's my fault for looking in the comments section in the first place, but too many of these bad takes is bound to give me an aneurysm.
Re: Nintendo Is Apparently Not Involved In The New Switch DRM Initiative
Honestly, any article on this site that could start a discussion about piracy should have its comments section locked. People who are anti-emulation would really benefit to learn about how the homebrew and rom dumping scene is the primary reason why Nintendo had rom files for the virtual console, dating back to the Wii era's Super Mario Bros. Rom having the hash ID of a public dump, and not an internal one.
Anybody defending these "anti-piracy" issues have no idea how much the industry has benefited from the piracy scene, and made money from the efforts of the homebrew community, who often have a staunch rule about homebrew being free and accessible.
It's heartbreaking that people making themselves out to be Defenders of All Things Holy are unaware of how self-destructive their closed-minded views are, and how deeply this mindset hurts not just the community, but the gaming industry as a whole.
Re: New Denuvo 'Switch Emulator Protection' Tech Launches, And Players Are Worried
Denuvo already has an atrocious track record of forcing people to pirate games in order to make them playable again. People saying "just make the devs optimize for Denuvo" have absolutely no idea what makes Denuvo the cancer that it is. It cut into Sonic Mania and Resident Evil sales because of how the software acts like a virus, and holds the resources of machine it's running on hostage.
The switch can barely play its own games without this handicap.
Re: DOOM's Legendary Co-Creator John Romero Is Making A Brand New FPS
I'm so glad someone mentioned Daikatana. Romero's got vision, but his execution has an awful track record. Best wishes, though. I'd rather he get his moment to shine instead of being the butt of yet another post-ID joke.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo's Mastery Of Physical Game Sales Hides Limited Digital Growth
There's a lot that goes into it, but it's definitely largely Nintendo's actions that led to this.
If we take into account business differences, Sony and Microsoft often do deep discounts on major first-party releases, and in some cases, free releases when you're subscribed to their premium services. Nintendo rarely offers a discount of up to 30%, compared to other companies slashing their prices 75+%, which also means used games in game stores are often cheaper than even Nintendo's own steepest digital discounts, as opposed to the reverse being true with Sony and Microsoft's digital stores.
If Nintendo's service were better priced, people would be going digital, and if Nintendo's included storage had been better, it would additionally lean into more sales. This is very much an ancient practice, by all standards.
Re: Switch Hackers Add Controller Pak Support To N64's Online Library
I can imagine the reason the save pak isn't getting saved on close has to do with the memory being held in the emulator's ram, and there is no function being called on by the app itself to write to a save pak file. You'd likely have to find the pointer to where the save pak data is in memory, and call a modified function of what the app uses to write the cart save file.
Re: Video: Here's A Look At Another Zelda 64 PC Port, And It's "Nearly Fully Playable"
@mereel I imagine not too many people know the extent of which Mario 64 has been able to get modified thanks to the porting project for it, but...
We've now been able to experience all sorts of wild things that emulators simply would never have given us the chance for, such as fully modular and controllable camera settings, native dynamic resolution scaling without having to resort to mods for even the simplest of things like making sure the UI doesn't turn into a gross disgusting stretched or muddy mess, and all sorts of wild things.
Having something like this run natively also means you don't have to deal with issues that are very real even with modern emulators, such as power requirements for accurate emulation, delay for sound, video, and inputs, potential emulation inaccuracies, or having to go through lengthy tutorials just to fine-tune your settings for the game to work correctly.
Re: Video: Here's A Look At Another Zelda 64 PC Port, And It's "Nearly Fully Playable"
The SHADE that got thrown at the Switch Expansion Pak at the end, though!!
Of course, native will have a better chance at working well over emulation, but the rest of everything looks pretty crisp. These reverse engineering projects are really shining a light on how bad official efforts at video game preservation have been.
Re: Japanese RPG Heavyweight Nihon Falcom Is Bringing Switch Development In-House
Those out-house developers sure gave them a crappy impression, huh?
Re: Soapbox: Nintendo's N64 Emulation Is Serviceable, But Treasured Memories Deserve Better
I'm surprised nobody brought up the fact that Turok, while not emulated, is remastered on the eshop with fog that got pushed so far back you can see unintended things, like caves floating in the sky, or whole other sections of the map that are disconnected from where you currently are.
Re: Talking Point: How Many Hours Is A 'Short' Game For You?
"Length" can only really be estimated, and the quality of the content can drastically change the real amount of time someone spends on a game, whether it's a completionist run or grinding out routes for speedruns or alternative experiences.
I recall my first time beating Super Metroid with an in-game time of 12 hours, without getting 100% items back in 1998/99, which technically puts it at maybe the 15-20 hour mark if I went to look for all the items without additional help. Now, the in-game time can read 90 minutes with 100% items due to lots of well thought-out routes for minor enthusiasts, much less hardcore speedrunners.
But like, how many hours did the speedrunners themselves grind the game out just to come up with those routes? 100 hours? Over 1000 hours? Most likely a lot of these people who enjoyed this 12 hour game have put in well over 5000 hours or more for just one game of the series.
At the end of the day, the length debate comes off as ignorant of what exactly experiencing a game is. They're honestly so much more than that.
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Receives Its First Update - Resolves "Several Issues"
@Vexx234 I think you miss the other point I made, which is a Skyward Sword that doesn't use motion controls is simply not Skyward Sword. You're asking for a new legacy Zelda title, but wording for it to replace Skyward Sword. You can say all you want "they can boot up up the game and enjoy it", but that wouldn't really be the case anymore (for this remaster, at least) if your request was fulfilled.
I'm really not sure how large or small a task you think that hope is. Even if you feel it to be simple, it's still a spicy take.
Re: The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Receives Its First Update - Resolves "Several Issues"
@Vexx234 it's sort of a weird veiwpoint from this game in particular. It's like asking for Splatoon to be a Mario game, just from how intricately motion has been attached to the design of Skyward Sword. Realistically you have the engine successor to this game, which is Breath of the Wild, where motion is no longer mandatory, but still a nice addition.
Removing motion entirely would be creating a different game by that point, and I think on a subconscious level, that's what bothers people about your statement. 🤔
Re: Super Meat Boy's Physical Box Art Is Horrifying
It's so nice to see this old art getting reused. I loved the horrifying nature of it back when it was promotional material during its XBLA release window
Re: The First Review For The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Is Now In
Interestingly, the QoL improvements still don't make this game good for anyone except people with goos hand/eye coordination and a sense of space.
This is by far my favorite Zelda, but I also realize people's issues with the controls were due to a lack of understanding of how they were calibrated. Hell, it took me three playthroughs to completely understand the conditions in which it seemed the calibration broke. After finding that out, I stopped having calibration issues (no one's calibration breaks in the Wii game, as it turns out. People just naturally shift positions over time while playing). I never would have thought before this game that motion controls could be TOO accurate.
Re: Feature: Treasure Games That Need Switch Ports Or Sequels
@Beetoe Xbox 360 Live Arcade had Bangai-O HD. It was a sequel to the DS Bangai-O Spirits
Re: Feature: Treasure Games That Need Switch Ports Or Sequels
Radiant Silvergun saw its way to XBLA, and it's still my favorite Treasure game, followed by Bangai-O HD.
I certainly wouldn't mind for Guardian Heroes to see a release as well.
Re: Random: Who Needs A Switch Pro When There's The Wii U Pro?
@ChromaticDracula Since that Wii U is most likely softmodded, it actually could natively play Gamecube games through the Nintendont homebrew app. 😂
It's even compatible with the official Gamecube Controller Adapter.
Re: Random: Who Needs A Switch Pro When There's The Wii U Pro?
With the SSD he put in, the disc drive is useless anyway. Smart choice to integrate the controller ports instead.
Re: "Nintendo Switch Has Games" - And Now It Has An Expensive Calculator, Too
I wonder when they'll patch in the multiplayer mode
Re: Video: Using a Mouse And Keyboard On Switch Isn't A Good Time
@EarthboundBenjy I know Terraria is supposed to add in keyboard and mouse support for all console versions at some point. Not sure if it's happened yet, tho.
Re: Pokémon GO And The TCG Are Getting A Professor Willow Crossover Card
I, too, enjoy Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy.
Re: Soapbox: Grinding Is Poor Gameplay Design That Doesn’t Respect Your Time
Something being addictive does not equate to it being good. Most of the people defending RPG/JRPG grinding are simply addicted to it, the same way people get addicted to gambling. It's meant to exploit you, and it does so efficiently.
True grind is action and skill grind, where you as a person outside of the game become better, even if "leveling up" means you're in general better and smarter at playing games. At least that's something that transfers to other things a person does.
That being said, people are going to consume whatever they feel like consuming, regardless of whether it's good for them or whether it respects their time.
Re: The Pokémon Company To Crack Down On Sword, Shield And HOME Users Who Modify Save Data In "New Ban Wave"
@Eel honestly, that is the one real counterpoint that exists. Not that it would stop even lazier people who don't want to item grind for that, but I definitely would rather they implement the move/stat verification feature to mitigate actual cheating.
Re: The Pokémon Company To Crack Down On Sword, Shield And HOME Users Who Modify Save Data In "New Ban Wave"
And I'm also not saying that flooding wonder trade with shiny legendaries doesn't detract from the game's intended experience, only that there isn't an accessible alternative without the use of such tools. For a franchise this old, there needs to be something better than "transfer your pokemon repeatedly up from 8 generations of games you may or may not have kept until you can access Pokemon Home, and then you don't actually own them despite them being yours"
Re: The Pokémon Company To Crack Down On Sword, Shield And HOME Users Who Modify Save Data In "New Ban Wave"
@TheLightSpirit If you're willing to read my replies, you might find that I am against cheating, and I state as such in them. You might also find out that what you're stating glosses over the reason why you're experiencing the problem that makes you upset in the first place. And hate is such a strong word, too. If anything, it's disappointing, especially when considering the team has the capability of making a functioning product.
Maybe it's lost on you when I say I speak from a place of love and experience. All I'm saying is your disdain is misplaced, and the reasons why it is. You refused alter your stance based on information and several perspectives. This is ultimately your own problem, and all I've been doing is attempting to provide you with even the slightest bit of insight. No need to take your frustrations out on me, or other commenters for that matter.