Comments 657

Re: ICYMI: Mario Kart's Iconic Track Looks Set For A Return In World

Sonicka

@Rykdrew Well, if battle mode is mostly what you’re after. That makes a heck of a lot more sense, fair do. $80 is a heck of an ask (it is in general anyway, I don’t discount that).

I presume World will have battle modes, and considering the outcry of 8 not having this done properly until the Deluxe version I imagine Nintendo won’t repeat that mistake again.

The question will be how battle modes are implemented across the map, will they cordon off areas? Will there be select locations for them? I’d even welcome a Fortnite style battle royale if the game can handle it. THAT would be pretty awesome.

Re: ICYMI: Mario Kart's Iconic Track Looks Set For A Return In World

Sonicka

@Rykdrew you need to look at the package as a whole and not judge it based on one element of the game.

  • 30+ Tracks
  • 30+ Tracks that can be driven round in reverse (something previously ONLY done in MKTour) this is by far a much more novel approach to Mirror mode and doubles the amount by default
  • There are 116 different routes between each track (which also count as part of the GP races, which mean 116 mini-tracks)
  • The entire world is an open world sandbox, drivable and explorable for secrets
  • There are brand new racing modes
  • 84+ Characters (30 returning, 20 new, and the rest of which are costumes that are NOT metal or peach gold variants)

There's a very good reason for the price, and it's because this game has far more content than its predecessors. More of which I'm sure we'll learn about during the MK Direct.

Whilst I don't think ANY game should be priced so high, Nintendo very clearly value Mario Kart World at a Switch 2 launch premium product, and for good reason.

Re: PSA: Switch Online Includes Switch 2 Edition Upgrade Pack Access At "No Additional Cost"

Sonicka

@Oracles_fanboi this depends on what the upgrade entails and the level of effort required.

If it's not cost effective for the developer to go back and revise an entire game for free then they absolutely should charge the consumer.

Playstation only did free upgrades for specific titles (often cross gen) for so long before having to announce it would cease.

Nintendo didn't artificially create an issue here, they've actually provided practical solutions and (most importantly) options for both developers and players.

Re: Nintendo Is (Kinda) Returning To Region-Locking With A Cheaper Japanese Switch 2

Sonicka

@Oracles_fanboi How?

1) Gamecube exclusive to Switch 2 is a selling point for the system, existing Subscription holders for the expansion pass are not expected to pay out any more for this. It’s a win.

2) Development on new features and modes is not cheap. It’s likely the price to upgrade specific switch 1 games will be dependant on what extras each dev puts into their title; could just be visual, could have extra content. Also, this is not uncommon, if you want to upgrade versions on PS4 —> PS5 it’s a similar path if you want improvements on certain titles.

3) As for Astro's Playroom equivalent being sold separately - this, I do agree with you. It is bizarrely unhinged. They give us Wii Sports for free, but an interactive manual for a cost? What?

4) Region locking is not returning. You should read that story more closely as to why they are doing a Japanese exclusive version - it completely makes sense.

5) Voice chat is a huge innovation… for Nintendo. Haha, yeah welcome to 25 years ago I guess. I’m glad they’ve finally caught up though. About damn time.

6) Previous SD cards aren't compatible with Switch 2 and comes only with 256 gigs of storage is expected. Memory cards for the PS1 not work on the PS2 games as well, it’s standard. An 8 year difference in tech means there was going to be a change here to future proof for the next 8. Do you want to be paying over £500 for a portable hybrid system?

It’s only an embarrassing outing depending on expectations. From where I stood they seemed to go above and beyond (for once). I expected far less and far worse and With the branding of “Switch 2,” this is almost certainly going to be the dominating console on the market to own once more.

Re: Switch 2 Games Cost A Bit More Than You're Probably Expecting

Sonicka

RRP Doesn’t mean anything. It’s just exactly what it is - Recommended.

Just like with Switch games they’ll be much cheaper in stores and sales with various discount codes (in the UK at least anyway).

I don’t think I ever paid much more than £39.99 with new releases for physical titles on switch. I imagine it will be the same with Switch 2 but £10 steeper (expected).

Digital is where it will be more expensive (minus the sales).

Re: Video: Metroid Prime 4 Looks Great, But Here's Why The Latest Trailer Isn't Switch 2 Footage

Sonicka

I found it quite odd that this was a topic of conversation for both trailers.

Prime Remastered seemed visually more impressive to me, however I suspect that was mostly due to the facelift on pre existing assets.

Prime 4 is brand new and seems to go for more stylised visuals, which is a different choice to the previous 3 games - but it didn’t appear out of the ordinary for anything the Switch 1 could cope with.

I think it’s also easy to forget that a lot of the 1st Party Devs are magicians. They have always been able to take advantage of the Switches capabilities and potential output over 90% of other game releases.

Re: Nintendo Drops Teaser Video For The Switch 2's 'C' Button

Sonicka

Whilst an option for a dual screen thing would be cool (as in connect), I don’t think a specific button makes a lot of sense to enable a mode like this (not to mention users that don’t have or traded in the Switch 1).

More likely? As as others have mentioned, “Cast / Community / Connect” but for sharing (like PlayStation has the Share button” for example).

Similarly, “Cursor” mode also makes some sense, but why would the C button also be on the Pro Controller (if the leaks are real). This would mean it would need to ensure the other joycon has the option of doing that too since it has no identical button.

Personally, I think that “Chat” seems like the most obvious answer, and as boring as that might sound consider how Chat options are practically non-existent on Nintendo platforms - this would be pretty revolutionary by Nintendo’s standards.

Re: Poll: What Review Score Would You Give Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition?

Sonicka

@BlackenedHalo Personally, I’m pretty glad they got rid of all the extra junk and levelling and so forth. It’s needlessly over complicating things and I was not a fan of this in the original.

Not to mention, Field skills and complex menu and reward systems also seeped over in XC2 and that IMO was one of the games worst and most egregious aspects.

Since they’ve worked on XC1DE, Monolith have clearly heard a lot of feedback into what the overall player base wants from their titles, this is what has allowed them to trim the fat, learn from their mistakes, and make menu systems and levelling (in the recent releases) much more user friendly.

On the plus, you still have the WiiU version to return to if you favour things there 🙂

Re: Random: Chances Are You've Been Pronouncing 'Balatro' Wrong

Sonicka

Just wish I could make it past the tutorial. I weirdly can’t wrap my head around understanding the mechanics of this title and have yet to win a single game (and I’ve come back to this game on three separate occasions and each time leave more frustrated) 🤣

Thankfully it was “free” on Netflix. Maybe someday I’ll understand so I can get into it properly since it’s apparently very good.

Re: Best Nintendo Switch Open World Games

Sonicka

@abbyhitter this is actually very true, and I have a feeling it may have been included in error because of Xenoblade X.

XC3 is definitely a segmented map and not open world despite being close due to the grandiose feeling.

On the flipside, if Xenoblade 3 fits this lists’ definition of “open world” then where is XC2? XC1? Monster Hunter Rise? Pokémon Legends? Scarlet and Violet? Sonic Frontiers? Etc… etc…

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Acknowledges Closed Network Test Player Feedback

Sonicka

Whilst it’s gunna be tricky for them to address all the main issues from the Beta (which are likely hard baked into the gameplay experience) - it’s good to know they hear the audience enough to hopefully be able to adjust a few things.

TBH though, I think the main point of the Beta was for SEGA to stress test how well their servers coped during online races and matchmaking with this title, so I’m not expecting much outside of item rebalancing.

Re: Best Xenoblade Chronicles Games Of All Time

Sonicka

I’m still going to fight on my hill and say that Future Connected should really be on this list.

It’s a seperate epilogue to the main game, can be played anytime, and I know quite a few people that bought XC1DE so they could just experience it. It’s no different to complete editions of titles having DLC chapters packed in (except this DLC wasn’t available prior).

I do however, somewhat get the flawed logic of why it isn’t listed - it can’t be purchased without buying into the main experience. But if we’re being honest, the other two DLC’s have had entirely different ways of being released. Saying FC is just an epilogue is no different to Torna or FR acting as prologues really.

In any case… although the list is dynamic - it pretty much aligns with my ranking at present.

XC1DE = XC3 > XC2 > XCX

FR > Torna > FC

Those that are worried about X being low shouldn’t be. All the games are basically 10/10 experiences, X also had the most limited reached of players considering it was a WiiU game, so won’t have been experienced by as many as the others in the series.

Re: Poll: What's The Best Xenoblade Game? Rate Your Favourite For Our Upcoming Ranking

Sonicka

All basically 10’s. But for the sake of the list and my personal rankings.

XB3 = XB1-DE > XB2 > XBX

Torna, Future Connected & Future Redeemed are all solid 9 or 10’s as well.

…Actually… where is Future Connected on this list Nintendolife? It feels really weird to include the other two story expansions when Future Connected was just as robust an experience with its own game world and mechanics that can only be played seperately from the base game.

I can somewhat understand the approach of this list as “paid releases” - which means FC came packaged with the XB1-DE… BUT, given the nature of each games extra story content being released in an entirely different way each time (eg - FC packaged in as a bonus, Torna sold as a seperate physical game experience, FR sold as part of a DLC pass) I think FC should 100% have its own slot.

Please can you add this on? 🙏 🙂

Re: Celeste Composer Releases "Concept Album" For Studio's Cancelled Follow-Up, Earthblade

Sonicka

Beautiful 🥲 I’m glad Reine released her tracks for this game.

It does however continue to make me feel very depressed that they felt Earthblade needed to be cancelled, I’ve been hyped for this game for a number of years.

From the initial concept and early gameplay it looked real promising. I hope they’re able to find their groove again with their next project.

I understand that during pre or mid development that things get cancelled all the time, so… please don’t announce anything until you are close to a release next time EXOK.

Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Has Been Butchered For The Switch Remake

Sonicka

@Zeebor15 not entirely the same thing, CTR is primarily a remake of the PlayStation 1 game. The fact that we got all the course content and extras from NK is a wonderful bonus.

@larryisaman except they are not the same as those sorts of remakes, not entirely anyway - and neither was 1&2. I’ll admit I do think it’s a bit odd to remove something that’s part of that particular games experience, but honestly given the overall “classic” structure of TH games over the first 4 titles anyway, I don’t think it will be overly detrimental that it will make that much difference.

THPS4 was them playing about with a new idea which was then solidified in the Underground Series. This is them streamlining 4 to fit in with the classic gameplay structure. I don’t think we’re losing much value here IMHO.

Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Has Been Butchered For The Switch Remake

Sonicka

Unless you’re a fan of the free roam option, I’m not sure this really matters all that much ultimately.

Seems like they just want the overall experience to be a cohesive package. Let’s not forget this is not exactly a direct remake in the same vein as Crash Bandicoot or Spyro with multiple games packaged together. Like the 1&2 Remake it will most likely be the sum of both games when fused into one experience.

I can almost guarantee it was considered during development to go in the other direction and add the free roaming to THPS3, or to keep both experiences different. Iron Galaxy have just landed on what they feel is the best option for this overall package, and considering what the original 4 games bring to the table it makes the most sense to me.

Now Tony Hawks Underground… that’s another story…

Re: Uh Oh, Blurred Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 Art Has Leaked Online

Sonicka

@Tasuki Ah, I was aware of Neversoft, but I thought Beenox took care of the Remake? Or VV… 🤔

Now I’m not sure. I thought I read that after the 1&2 remake the devs that worked on it got absorbed back into the main company thus thwarting a 3&4 remake coming out (which is why I am presently surprised it is happening).

Re: Opinion: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Looks Cool, But It's Lacking Arceus' Unique Style

Sonicka

Looks like a step from Arceus to me whilst keeping the same art design and character model types.

What’s makes this feel different is the flip from an Ancient Rural Landscape to a Large Urban city set in the present, so tonally it should feel different.

I can appreciate what they were trying to go for with Arceus and its style, but it is by far one of the most visually unappealing Pokemon titles they’ve ever developed, muddy, dull, empty, visual clippings everywhere and N64 fog aplenty. For all its issues even Sc/Vi was a substantial step up.

Z-A at the very least seems to visually hold its own a little bit more and has substantial improvements. But it’s no peak of the system like BOTW or the Xenoblade games achieve.

Re: Round Up: The First Impressions Of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds 'Closed Network Test' Are In

Sonicka

@LXP8 MK8: DX is indeed the Smash Ultimate of Racers, but it’s also consists of 10 years worth of inconsistent updates and multiple paid DLC passes.

CTR: NF is similar in that it was supported for about a year with free updates and free DLC (with only the characters and cosmetics gated behind free battle passes and MTX if the grind for the shop wasn’t for you).

Sonic Crossworlds seems to promise a fair amount out of the gate with more to come in the future when you consider the character variations from other series such as Sonic Prime is included. After Shadow Generations I have no doubt the Movie Verse skins will eventually appear as well since SEGA is very much pushing a cross media marketing approach right now.

We also know characters represented from other franchises are making a return - in fact, one of the Crossworld tracks (the fire/lava world) is referencing from SEGA’s Galaxy Force II (an old arcade game), so it wouldn’t surprise me if there is more is to come later on.

Re: Round Up: The First Impressions Of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds 'Closed Network Test' Are In

Sonicka

Having played the Beta like many this weekend, I can certainly confirm that it's presently a chaotic mess, but a weirdly addictive mess at the same time. Winning is random, and if you want to make your way up the ranking stakes then you better be feeling lucky.

I will say that if there's any remaining doubt over Sumo Digitals involvement in this title, then that can now be thrown to the wind, they are not involved and this feels absolutely nothing like their trilogy of racers whatsoever.

This is not necessarily a bad thing mind you, as the attempt here is for something much closer to Crusin' Blast in terms of pure arcade shenanigans. But the weighty handling, the over-reliance on drifting to turn at any given moment, the sensory overload of things going on on-screen, the fact that the game doesn't penalise you for mistakes apart from getting hit by items AND the way it pushes you forwards (almost automatically sometimes) has this feeling dangerously closer in scope to Mario Kart Tour right now.

The soundtrack is also oddly subpar this time with some weird synth choirs that have me hoping this is just placeholder music (otherwise the actual melodies are great). But disappointingly this does not play as close to a 'Transformed 2' as I hoped; boats are missing the proper drifting mechanics and planes no longer have flexible movements or barrel rolling and so forth, it's all very very stiff. It kind of makes sense when you conciser that the transformed sections of the track are very short (and straight) set pieces as opposed to what the original Transformed game offered, here it is not the primary feature for the courses, but just a cheap secondary gimmick for spectacle which is a damn shame.

The positives are that despite it all... it is actually quite fun! There's a clear ambition with the scope of worlds and characters this time around (compared to TSR's limited worlds and roster), and the Crossworlds feature keeps things fresh and exciting a making every race feel slightly different to the last. Oh, and car customisation is pretty damn sick.

Anyway, this is just the Beta and we only had access to the online multiplayer, so it's just a merger slice of the overall pie. Hopefully any feedback the team receive will allow them to adjust any issues into the final build.

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"

Sonicka

@PrinceVegeta sure thing. Apologies, I’m not trying to come across as argumentative on this one, I’m only going by what the Developers are announcing on Twitter as involvement.

But it honestly would not surprise me if Sumo are still involved somehow. The modern racing series (amongst other Sonic spinoffs) was their bread and butter for SEGA. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"

Sonicka

@TheSupaShinobi it's because it was directed at you, and potentially I've misinterpreted your statement.

I was just backing up your claim, but also stating that the devs behind Initial D working on the game was not common knowledge until yesterday.

@PrinceVegeta to be honest, I was on the "it's still Sumo Digital" team until recently. However, it's becoming more and more clear now that they really aren't working on this title (especially when you take into account the recent layouts within Sumo Group).

This does appear that SEGA have taken this on as a more in-house project this time around, which in fairness they've always said was the case since the announcement.

(It would not surprise me if some of the original assets were shared however).

The question now is if the game will still feel true to the original, as I really enjoyed the feel of the speed and drift mechanics from the first 3 titles. Crossworlds already to be more Arcadey in nature (that's not a bad thing mind you!).

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"

Sonicka

@theSupashinobi it's not common knowledge - the team behind the arcade game "Initial D" literally just announced their involvement as the developers of the game on their official Twitter account hours ago.

Essentially, this means SEGA's arcade racing game division is the driving force behind Crossworlds, so at least the game is in safe hands.

I guess that officially puts Sumo's involvement as lead developer to rest I suppose, which honestly is / isn't a surprise.

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"

Sonicka

@russell-marlow you can do far worse in the racing kart genre, but “safe” this series has rarely been.

Perhaps the original you could call a Mario Kart knockoff / competitor, but Sonic Team Racing has a fantastic idea in concept that has not been done before. The problem is that it wasn’t fully realised and had a lack of substantial content.

But Transformed? Now that was title that actually outdid Mario Kart back in the day (until MK8 came along anyway). Transformed against MK7? There was no real competition to be had there.

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From "SEGA Universes"

Sonicka

@DragotheKomodo it comes from SEGA’s own press release.

That’s how we know IP’s from other franchises and Sonic universes will be included:

https://x.com/saac_news/status/1889818015069511715?s=46

Sonic Prime Characters / Skins will also be available for those signing up to the digital deluxe and SEGA also confirmed this is just the starting roster from launch.

Once we get going it’s more than likely that other IP characters will boost the roster from the 23 spotted in the trailer. We also know that Sage from Frontiers will be playable, as well as other Crossovers characters and skins from other Sonic Universes (tho not yet announced, I suspect this will likely pertain to the movie universe, boom, and retro skins to say the very least).

They’ve also confirmed that the game will contain (at the start) 24 different tracks and 15 crossworlds.

So yup, it’s definitely looking like they are going to surpass ASRT in terms of content.

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Trailer Released During Sony's 'State Of Play'

Sonicka

I clearly spoke too soon… The press release actually states characters from other SEGA properties will be in this game as well!

https://x.com/saac_news/status/1889818015069511715?s=46

Not only that but Iizuka’s statement on the game:

“ In Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, not only did we want to introduce the innovative idea of racing through different worlds as you warp through the Travel Rings, but we also wanted anyone who had fun playing our previous Sonic Racing games to really enjoy this title, so we took a lot of elements from those past games and incorporated them. We included the Extreme Gear from the Sonic Riders series as well as the Transform feature from the All-Stars Racing series, making it a great culmination of all the Sonic Racing series games to date. I hope everyone really enjoys Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.”
– Takeshi Iizuka, Creative Officer, Sonic Team”

I gotta hand it to Sonic Team, they’ve been pretty good at listening to fan feedback over the last few years.

Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Trailer Released During Sony's 'State Of Play'

Sonicka

Wowsers! Now that was a trailer.

So basically this is the next evolution on Transformed, incorporates the gear from Riders as a Vehicle type, AND (as we suspected) you do portal to different tracks and worlds mid race… and better yet - this gets mixed up as well.

I’m personally not that bummed out on losing the other SEGA IP from TRANSFORMED, but I am excited that they are doing what Team Sonic Racing failed at… which is finally having a larger variety of zones, areas, acts, levels from across the entire franchise. Seeing stuff like Metal Harbour from Adventure 2, the Dinosaur and Pirate worlds from Secret Rings, or Chao Park is all the right kind of things I like seeing.

Sign me up for the beta playtest! Yes indeeed!