Slain

@LastFootnote Exactly right. It's starting to annoy me with people saying it's an all digital future or that all digital is inevitable.
Why is it inevitable? Who decided that? No one knows how the future will turn out. The demand for physical games could continue to grow. Other companies could jump in and cater to the physical market, like Evercade for example.
All digital is not inevitable.

If the industry goes completely digital then I'll retire from it and just enjoy the library of physical games I've bought over the years.
As for how things are at the moment, Sony can keep the PS6, not interested.
Besides, what exactly will the next gen of consoles actually bring to the table? A minuscule leap in graphics and nothing more? When will this industry stop chasing graphics. Is that all PS6 and Helix have got to offer, an almost imperceivable improvement in graphics. Is that it. Why even bother?

@roboshort yeah but this is the problem though. If you're into digital games it's fine, you've got that option, and I'm happy for people who prefer that. I have no problem with digital games if that's your thing. But for people who prefer real physical games, we no longer have that option. There should be the option for both digital and real physical, not this fake physical nonsense that excludes the gamers who want a real physical game.

@BloodWolfe I agree 100%. I've been a gamer for over 40 years and game key cards are by far the worst thing I've seen come from this industry, and from Nintendo of all companies. And yeah, if they think I'll be getting the digital versions instead they're dead wrong. Physical or nothing.

Shame it's a lame key card. I would have liked to have played this one.

Another disappointing game key card release. Guess I'm sticking with the limited run switch 1 version.
Game key cards are really ruining this era of gaming for physical collectors like myself.

Too bad its a lame key card. Would have bought it otherwise. Thanks Ubi, you're saving me heaps of $ this generation.

As long as the music doesn't suck like Crafted World's god awful music then I might buy it.

The game looks good and I want to buy it, but if the music is anything like the god awful baby tunes in Crafted World then forget it.

Looks fabulous. Very faithful to the original filmation tv series.

Not really digging the art style. Sons of Sparta pixel art looks better.

Definitely nabbing the Ghost n Goblins cover. Hope they do vol. 2 as well.

Ugh - another GKC, someone kill me!
My PS5 library's gonna be stacked.

Seems like overkill at this point. The first one was more than enough.

I particularly like the way the artwork doesn't have Game Key Card plastered over the bottom section.

@BongoBongo I never said I speak for everyone, it's just my opinion that nobody loses out if there are different difficulty options. Sorry you feel difficulty options will reduce your enjoyment of the game. Far out man!

Really happy to hear this. Zwei is my favourite in the series, I played it through so many times I could get 100% enemy shot down on every stage. I though it might have gotten cancelled since there was no news since it was announced ages ago.
I really like the remake of the first game, prefer it to the original.

@BongoBongo sorry dude, I don't agree. If you find satisfaction beating a game on normal then good for you. You don't have to use an easy mode just because it's there. Yeah, gonna stand buy what I said, nobody loses out with difficulty options.

Answer me this: who loses out by adding difficulty options? Who? It should be standard practice these days for games to have easy, normal and hard modes. People should not be penalised for their skill level. How does it affect someone who likes hard games if a game has an easy option too? Nobody loses out by having difficulty options. NOBODY.
Why are there some gamers out there that feel that other gamers with less skill should be barred from some games and not offered a difficulty option. How does that affect them? This shouldn't even be an issue in 2025.

In this day and age it should be standard practice for most games to offer easy, normal and hard difficulty options. NOBODY loses out by having difficulty options. The only people saying that games shouldn't have those options are egotistical people who like to brag about their gaming skills.

Best thing I can say is that at least there's no ugly Game Key Card jargon taking up the bottom of the picture.

Hell yes! This looks awesome. It's taken forever to finally get a MOTU game. With this and the movie next year Motu fans have a lot to look forward to.

@kmtrain83 I'm just saying, that at the end of the day, I can play the full game on the disc without an internet connection. It might not be the lastest version, it might be buggy and need patching, it might not have everything added after launch, but the base game is still there, in physical form, and that's enough for a lot of us physical collectors.

Game Key Card hey? Another game to add to my PS5 collection then.

@kmtrain83 Not sure where you're getting your information but people who are saying they will get the PS5 version aren't in fact fooling themselves. The vast majority of PS5 discs do in fact have the whole game on the disc. There are websites that will tell you if they don't. Yes they work similar to GKC's but they do actually have the whole game on the disc.

Switch2 is off to a rough start. That Direct was not a good way to build momentum. And all these game key cards are pushing me more and more to Playstation.

I absolutely 100% will not be buying game key cards. Ever! My strategy now will be to buy third party for PS5 and just get Nintendo's 1st party stuff. I was all set to buy third party games on Switch2 because I prefer cartridges over discs, and I also like to be able to play my games on the go, but that sadly won't be happening now. I doubt my decision will have any impact on publishers putting out full physical games on Switch2, but I hope enough people don't buy these key card things for publishers to at least reconsider their stance. At the end of the day it's on Nintendo though for not providing more size options for cartridges.

Well, I guess I'm going to have more free time and money to spend thanks to these game key card abominations as I won't be buying a single one of them.
Maybe I can use the money instead and start investing in retro games and consoles, back when real physical games existed. Plug and play, no internet, full game on cart, I miss those days.

100% agreed with this. Publisher's take note: you WILL lose sales from this.

Like others have said, CD Projekt Red deserves kudos for releaseing Cyberpunk complete on cart. I'll be picking up a copy at some point.

@Alcea @Skunkfish Yeah sometimes I miss out on some games but I've got hundreds of games already and a backlog to get through so it's not too big a deal. Besides, I've got other hobbies that keep me busy.

@Skunkfish No, I'm going purely physical.

I won't be buying one single damn game key-card ever. I don't care what the game is, it won't be happening. There'll be plenty of other games out there vying for my money that I can buy that won't be doing this sad bs.

So if the cases are now red plastic does that mean we won't get interior artwork anymore?

So are the actual cases now red plastic, because if they are then what about the interior box art? It would be a real shame to no longer get artwork on the inside of the case like with Switch 1 cases.

I'm kind of pissed that Nintendo hasn't had a Switch 1 direct yet. I know everyone's all about Switch 2 these days but some of us are still interested in what's happening with the Switch 1 for this year. I mean they've sold a hundred and fifty million units for gods sake. There's still customer interest.

I'll be picking up Suikoden and Xenoblade. I still feel like we need a Switch 1 focused Nintendo Direct. I know Switch 2 is all the rage at the moment but it feels like Nintendo have forgotten about Switch 1. I hope I'm wrong and we get a Direct for whatever they have got planned for Switch 1 this year.

I'd personally prefer remasters or remakes. I was really impressed with how good Luigis Mansion 2 and DKC Returns HD looked on the big screen. Would love ports of Kid Icarus Uprising and Link between Worlds. 3DS ports would be a great way to support the Switch 1 in its final years.

So they sold nearly five million in three months. To sell another ten million, thats 2.5 million quarterly for one more year. Seems quite possible.

Already picked up the physical version for the complete set of Rastan games. Cadash is also awesome.

I'm tempted just for Xain'd Sleena. I played it so much at the arcade that could finish the game on one credit.

I don't think the leaks ruined the reveal, I just think the reveal itself wasn't very interesting. A quick look at the system and a tease of one game wasn't really much to get excited about. This upcoming Switch 2 Direct would have been a better way to do the reveal in my opinion. But hey, I'm no marketing expert so who knows?
One good thing though is that at least they showed it off pretty early into 2025.

Okay pretty cool if not a little underwhelming. Now with that out of the way I hope we still get a direct soon for the current Switch.

I can't wait for the Switch 2 to come out so we can start getting Switch 3 leaks and rumours for years on end. So much fun!

How could Smash Bros not be on this list. Remember all the new character reveals that went on for years. Some characters that most people thought would be impossible to add to the roster. Some of those reveals were the best part of Nintendo Directs over the years. I still get a kick out of watching reaction videos to new characters being added.

I prefer the less is more approach. I feel like each new mainline entry is getting more and more bogged down with extra gameplay systems like cooking and crafting and fishing and sailing and fetch quests and whatever other ideas they can think of, as well as long drawn out conversations which aren't all that interesting. VIII was a good balance although some of it was bogged down with long talky bits. IX did it even more and I'm not really enjoying the sailing in X. I dunno, I feel like they need to dial it back a bit.

Cool, I love their work. Just played throught the Blaster Master Zero trilogy and the Luminous Avenger iX games again over Christmas break and had a blast. Looking forward to see what they've got cooking.

One of the most overrated games I've ever played. Listening to some reviewers talk about it you'd think it was some kind of transcendental experience and a masterpiece for the ages. I though it was an okay action game at best.

Cool. I just wish there was a way I could get the two themes that I've missed so far, the Monster Hunter one and the Mario Party one.

Glad to see the Blaster Master Zero trilogy on the list. I would also include Aggelos and Astalon: Tears of the Earth, both fantastic games.
Mostly though I add Alwa's Awakening and Alwa's Legacy. Criminally underrated games both. Alwa's Legacy should be in the same conversation as greats like Hollow Knight and SotN.