Sonicka

@LadyCharlie sure, the sweet silky smooth 30 frames 🤣

I have the 3DS version and it sure is still sweet for the handheld (including the added 3D layers), but it sure as heck ain’t a silky smooth experience.

Sure, Kaze is a good game… if you are into really tough titles like the original SNES DKC trilogy for sure.

If you want a slightly easier time, there is of course Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair from the OG DKC team, but I will also personally vouch for Masupalami Hoobadventure - can’t go wrong (when it is on sale for £1.79) if you are after quality knockoff DKC Returns level of enjoyment platformer.

@ladycharlie unsure if you watched the video but they did say at the end that the Switch port is arguably the best version of the three.

I’m not gunna defend the overall shortcomings however. This could have been better rather than sitting above satisfactory in terms of a port.

They’ve got to stop doing this “based on the work of…” nonsense with the credits. It’s pretty insulting to the original team/s that actually put the work into the level designs and content.

A full remake I could perhaps understand, but a port with tweaks does not make it “your work” much in the same way that tracing over a picture and adding a few tweaks doesn’t.

Interesting list, I’m not sure I’d have personally included the two Wii U ports that pertain mostly to Nintendos previous gen (and are hardly even remasters at that).

That said, a list is a list and I can get behind what you were going for with the choices.

For me it would personally be:

• Zelda: TOTK is hands down this consoles miracle game for the technical feats accomplished alone. BOTW is excellent but was a WiiU title primarily (and how I played it) that was ported to the switch for its Launch. Thoroughly enjoyed a second play through on Switch though.
• Xenoblade Chronicles Series - difficult to exactly pinpoint these to one title, So I won’t. But it’s where the RPG series finally found proper footing after 2 released, then with 1 getting an incredible Remaster (arguably a remake) and a stellar followup with 3, these are pioneering titles in the RPG genre IMO.
• Mario Odyssey - I’m still impressed this came out during the first year of Switch. And it’s one of Mario’s finest since Galaxy.
• Smash Bros Ultimate - It’s the definitive portable Smash Experience that you can take on the go. 3DS Smash exists of course - but it’s not in the same league.
• Super Mario Wonder - Only took Nintendo far too long to actually release a proper followup in their 2D series after the blandness of the “New” era. Finally felt like I was a kid playing Super Mario 3 / World again for the first time.
• Kirby and The Forgotten Land - It’s a 3D Kirby game. They ACTUALLY DID IT.
• Metroid Prime Remastered - This very impressively showcases what the Switch is technically capable of, and again is arguably more a Remake than a Remaster. I still can’t quite believe it’s playable in this state on the system.
• Pokémon Legends: Arceus - On the other end, Whilst I prefer S&V for finally going open world which is far more immersive than it is technically impressive… Arceus will be what everyone is talking about when they remember a Pokemon game on Switch. It runs and looks like Garbage (and is blander in its visual palette compared to the main series), but there is no getting around the gameplay loop being fun and feeling new, especially with the battle system no longer dragging. Capturing Pokemon has never felt so engaging. I really hope ZA or the next mainline entry expands on this gameplay style.

I actually tried to NOT to make this list Nintendo exclusive - but honestly speaking, that is why I buy Nintendo systems. 3rd party ports are still impressive, but I will almost always pick the console where the 3rd party game performs the smoothest (regardless of the unique factor of portability for say, Witcher 3 or Skyrim).

Not for the price, and I’m certainly not triple dipping.

I only bought the 3DS version when it was on the Nintendo selects range for less than £20.

No way am I paying more than that for a HD remaster Nintendo, what in the Metroid Prime Remastered are you thinking? The pricing strategy is hugely inconsistent with these remaster / remake rereleases.

@LikelySatan different strokes for different folks.

When the boost formula works, it’s great fun - Shadow Generations for me takes it further with his additional abilities which is why I enjoyed it more.

Not all Sonic fans like the same Sonic games though. We ain’t no hive mind and can hate on the trash Sega put out just as much.

I’m personally much more interested to see what they achieve with Frontiers 2. I enjoyed the first, and if it’s as quality controlled as the level design and open world structure from Shadow Generations then we could be in for a very good time.

Refreshing to see how well this franchise has been doing considering the budget they are produced on. It’s very lucrative for SEGA and paramount right now.

That said, I’m not super surprised that The Mario Bros Movie reached 1 billion on a single film compared to Sonic doing the same on three individual movies. Based on the IP and global reach, Mario is always going to be more popular.

But, there is also a good reason that Sonic 3 currently holds the throne for best Videogame movie adaption based on critic and user scores. If Nintendo and illumination can get their act together for the sequel and not solely rely on dozens of video game and pop culture references, then it might have a fighting chance to be just as good (if not better) than the Sonic Movie Franchise 🙂

SEGA really drove this one through to completion. It was nice to see the character get some real focus.

I was already pleasantly surprised that Shadow Generations turned out to be a full game and not a simple level pack - not to mention that it was additionally the better half of an already excellent gaming package.

However, Keanu as Shadow in the third Sonic movie sealed the deal. An excellent threequal and a very worthy adaption of my favourite 3D Sonic title.

Take notes, Nintendo.

@GrailUK my point is, we know it’s coming, they’ve told us a successor is happening, and that’s it will be backwards compatible.

Leaks are also happening left right and centre (real or not).

They won’t hold an event or announce it’s coming a second time. The next event will be most likely be literally showing it off in a something akin to a short trailer like they did the original Switch in Oct 2016.

If Nintendo just say “Yeah, it’s Switch 2 - but we’ll show and tell you more about it in the summer” then that’s some pretty extreme trolling on Nintendo’s side and not worth the hassle they’d get from shareholders.

January (well, that’s my guess anyway) need to get those final post Christmas / New Year sales in.

Those saying there is a difference between an announcement / reveal… no. The difference between the two is subtle at best. Nintendo are unlikely to troll the market by announcing before March 31st that the reveal is later in the year.

More likely they’ll follow the original Switch strategy with an “announcement” + first look trailer followed by a conference to demonstrate the system with a release date to follow.

@RetroGames oh for sure! There are obviously a ton of other factors that go into a customer purchase - I'm just baselining it.

Although TBH... I'm still half expecting Nintendo to show us something completely different to these "leaks" - could be a set of VR spectacles, or a non-controller where you use your visual optics... you just never know with this developer.

@RetroGames Ultimately, if this thing really is what the Big N is going for, as long as Nintendo put the number "2" next to the word "Switch" then 90% of adopters will certainly upgrade.

DS to DSi isn't really a fair comparison here, much like the 3DS to New 3DS - they are the more obvious mid gen refresh PS4/5 > Pro compare to be made, which is why sales are lower.

I do agree that a notably different looking machine might be more appealing, but given the mistakes made in the past (and this time there is no backup secondary system to fall back on) keeping it aggressively simple and similar is their smartest move whilst campaigning that it's sequentially their next console (unlike how they handled the Wii U). As it's also backwards compatible, they need to ensure this aspect is met without too much hinderance.

But yeah, under the hood, I do also hope there is a little more to it - I do love me a Nintendo Gimmick despite it all.

The talk of Mario Kart 9/X as a Launch title as well... this is arguably their largest system seller right there (MK8 constantly reappearing in the charts over the last 10 years should tell us something). I'd be more surprised if it didn't show up within the first year of launch.

This was the announcement of the night, (barring Okamiden) I’ve only ever been waiting FOREVER for the proper followup / sequel after that ending!!

Wow, it’s like EOW really is Meh-gend of Zelda according to this thread XD.

In any case, EOW still ended up being a pretty solid 9/10 experience for me even if it wasn’t on the scale or level of BOTW / TOTK. I don’t know about it being GOTY material though.

I was just happy they found a nice middle ground with the old skool formula and open air gameplay with a new leading protagonist, I couldn’t ask for more. Just keep on keeping it fresh please Nintendo.

Fortnite is no longer just the “Battle Royale” with a creative mode, it’s a free to play experience.

Battle Royale (Chapter 6, OG, Reload, Zero Builds, Ranked) Rocket Racing (Ranked, Speed Run, Casual) Guitar Hero (Jam, Featival) Lego (Survival, GTA Sim) Creative, the incoming First Person 5 V 5 mode… there’s presently more than a lot on offer for the non price before you dip your toe in any Battle Passes.

And with the recent partnership made with Disney, it’s only going to get bigger in scope and modes over the years to come as they incorporate more from that pool of IP.

Toree wearing the Metal Harbour throwback on its sleeves and I’m here for it!

Voting on all I’ve played I’d say it’s been indie hit after indie hit for me on Switch with Freedom Planet 2, Arranger & Neva being my personal 10/10’s. Only Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom reached this same level of enjoyment for me from a first party dev.

Would love to vote on Jamboree, Brotherhood and the like, but not had the chance to sit and play these titles yet.

In fairness, 7/10 is not middling.

Nonetheless, Nlife seems to be the outlier on this one as other outlets so far have been scoring 80-90% across all platforms so it’s reviewing pretty well.

@serpenterror are they? Unless I’m misunderstanding the thread, I’ve played this game on Apple Arcade back in the day and the character models sure didn’t seem pre rendered to me.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is very much in essence of PS1 FF games with 3D polygonal character models and movements over a pre-rendered background - difference being they built real life handcrafted diorama backgrounds that were photographed & scanned for this title.

I can’t have been the only one that misread the title as an Altlier Warriors game incoming 🤣

@Glasso perhaps in some eyes, maybe. Personally it seemed like an obvious shoe in for GOTY nominee to me - especially if the likes of Black Myth can gain credit.

@Serpenterror Eldin Ring for sure shouldn’t be on here, but FF Rebirth is its own individual adventure. I put over 200 hours into this game and an “expansion” this sure as heck ain’t.

It would be like saying any sequel to an existing title is an expansion.

Bad poster - but only because it’s too busy with a duplication of characters.

Split it up and the top half and the bottom half work perfectly fine by themselves as portrait and landscape posters. .

So the likes of a DLC, Balatro and Black Myth can be included to get a GOTY nomination, but we leave out a brand new Zelda Entry and/or the Mario RPG’s… what sort of rigged event is this exactly 🤣

I’m far more surprised that FFVI as a HD 2D remake didn’t exist before the likes of Live A Live and Dragon Quest TBH.

That said, I did love them NDS Chibi Art style remakes from FFIII and IV tho…

@Broosh ranking is based on user ranking scores in this instance. It is not to do with the site reviews.

As it stands I do disagree with quite a bit on this list - TTYD door remake should probably be somewhere in the bottom half, and TOK in the upper.

Can’t speak for Brothership until I’ve played it, but the placement is certainly a surprise for sure.

Wow, there’s a whole lot more in the free update than I imagined!

This is definitely getting a replay once the Watchmaker DLC comes out to give me enough time away that it feels fresh.

Must get back to this one - I dropped it once I reached the battle stadium area due to boredom.

Thing is, I absolutely adored TTYD game on GCN, but it’s just not clicking with me as much this time around which is a shame - it lacks something (and I don’t mean the extra frames lol).

I partially blame myself as I played Origami King in the lead up to this to get in the “Paper Mario mood” - and that sort of ruined it for me - who thought TOK would turn out to be more enjoyable to play - not me? 😅

In any case, I ended up drifting onto Dream Team on 3DS instead, which again - was much more up my alley for gameplay engagement.

Once Xenoblade music hits this app then… hoo boy I’ll be feeling it!

Demise? Complete? There’s like… more than 10 different WiiU titles that still need a good porting to 🤣

Oh Nintendo - just casually dropping a bombshell out of nowhere. Where were you in the last Direct huh?

This is Super exciting though! It’s the only title in the series that I own but haven’t yet played (just in case of this exact announcement). Hopefully they’ll have also improved the HUD elements alongside the character visual style which is now looking less derpy and more anime 🙂

But gosh… Clearly this series has a fair few fans... Almost 200 comments in 2 hours 🤣

@DollyrotsFan1 Yeap I would totally get behind a Sonic Heroes remaster / remake as well.

As for a collection - you never know. SA1/2 have already been remastered into HD as you mentioned, so porting duties I’d assume wouldn’t be too much of a problem… leaving just Heroes to round out the package - so a Sonic Adventure Chronicles package doesn’t seem too out there as a possibility.

Perhaps this should be their next classic collection after Origins? (If they end up missing out the odd ducks of the Sonic 3D’s, Knuckles Chaotix, MD Spinball, Mean Bean Machine, Sonic the Fighters)

That said… an official GBA collection of the 5 sonic titles wouldn’t go amiss either.

…There’s plenty for them left to do here 🙂

This honestly deserves every bit of praise.

After the Sonic Colours Ultimate fluff it’s a relief Sonic Team took the reins of development on the Sonic Generations remaster in house.

Better yet (and I’ve said elsewhere) is that Shadow Generations is somehow the bigger game of the two in the package, and dare I say it… potentially better overall as well.

(Just need a Sonic Unleashed / Lost World Re-release next please Sonic Team) 🙏

@Isaix completely fair if not for you 🙂

I will say though… playing through this now, I am actually surprised that Shadow Generations is the bigger title of the two games. If we include the incoming movie DLC there are 7 worlds with 2 Acts, and there seems to be a lot more original content and courses from the bonus challenges - and of course the 3D white space hub is its own Frontiers style open zone which has quite a lot more to do than Sonic Generations white space ever offered.

Initially in my head I had equated this to be the Bowsers Fury of Super Mario 3D World, but that isn’t the case and it’s quite the reverse. It’s very weird how this title has been marketed by SEGA and not pushed harder that it’s a brand new game that just happens to have Sonic Generations as the bonus side content.

Been playing the PS4 copy today and need to take back what I said earlier - It’s only Shadow Generations that’s runs at 30FPS (which makes sense), the Sonic Generations portion runs at a buttery Smooth 60FPS 🙂

Better than expected on Switch as I expected parity with the original version of the game.

What guts me is getting the PS4 version and discovering this runs at 30FPS, it’s… fine, but not really acceptable for a remaster running on a console a generation above the original.

I guess they really want to make current gen stand out with the differences 🙄

Preordered on PS4… But considering the Switch version one day now I’ve seen some videos. This might just be Sonic Teams most stable running 3D game on the Nintendo’s hardware yet. A locked 30FPS to match its original 360/PS3 console experience is really all we could have asked for on Switch.

@Isaix Shadow “game” you mean. This is actually 2 complete game experiences on one cartridge. Shadow ain’t getting no Sonic Forces Episode BS this time thankfully 🙂

@BlackenedHalo I’m so impressed by the pun that I’m won over 🤣👏

I do seek the immersion side as well (BOTW / TOTK especially rings true for me on that) but I do love a little guide when I’ve forgotten what I’m doing after a long break is all I’m saying.

But yeah, options, that’s all it needs. You are right that EoW is devoid of that.

Then you have Horizon II, which is probably the antithesis of everything I love about trying to explore an open world, because even when you can turn most of it off… it’s still there to guide you out of the immersion.

@BlackenedHalo yes, but my point was that mini-maps were available in the older titles. I actually did agree with you that they should have added accessibility options to turn it off as per the prior titles. We’re probably talking over each other on this subject.

With regards to quest markers, as I said - I think they are necessary in these newer titles. It’s a debatable topic, but not limited to being a Ubisoftism. There was no need for them back in the older games because they were few and far between and were either missable, or built into the main scenario. Quest markers or list reminders are a nice necessity IMO. But again, an option to remove the markers themselves is a valid point.

@BlackenedHalo mini maps have always been available in Zelda games as far back as OOT.

And a side quest tracker is a vital requirement so you don’t forget since these can crop up at any time (especially as side quests in any game these days are not limited to forced scenarios). Can’t be going back to the dark ages now.

I appreciate your stance tho - removing most of the hud elements at least should be an accessibility option available to the player 🙂

Was gutted I didn’t get into the trial, however after reading about what it is I now know I likely wouldn’t have bothered to try it and the space would have gone to waste.

Still, I am a little bit intrigued somewhat to see what game this online social experiment eventually morphs itself into.

@Anti-Matter unfortunately, the game is not powerful enough to run on Sony’s hardware.

Looks like it retains tank controls, but an option for the alternative is always nice, I’ll be interested to see how well that plays though as the first game was designed around TC so changing that up won’t necessarily make it better to play.

This is defo a day one - but I can’t help but wish they did do the Crash / Spyro style remake with the overhaul, I still commend the effort to retain its original look and feel though as that was clearly their plan from the start.

I'll be the first to readily admit... it does actually look a little bit better.

@Anti-Matter no, not really.

Whilst I don’t endorse all of Epic Games policies, they’ve become one of the more transparent companies, especially when it comes to skins and limited time items to purchase.

But look, the game and its multitudes of experiences are free to play, nothing bought provides an advantage beyond cosmetic satisfaction - no one is forced to buy any of their crap let alone download their game either.

The real cancer is from the online service titles that stemmed from the success of Fortnite, where other publishers try to copy the model and get lost in the greed without understanding the need to appeal and put focus on their players first.

If you charge big bucks for access to an online service then focus on FOMO alone then you’re heading down an ugly road indeed.

Bithall Games + another Tron Universe game is a match made in heaven. What helps is that they understand and respect (and fanboy) over this franchise. Day one buy for sure 🙂

Short is not a negative in this era of bloat filled backlog gaming, it’s a real positive. Can’t wait for this tomorrow! 🙂

I haven’t read the full review in case, but glad to see it’s held to as high a regard as GRIS, which was equally outstanding.

Not watching this due to the nature of the game, but it’s a day one from me for Neva. GRIS was something very special indeed.

Yeaaah. I’m real excited for this one.

The overall visual vibrancy and art-style look like a hoot. The Saturday morning cartoon is always what the M&L games seemed to strive towards, and it looks like the Switch is pushing this series to look at its finest yet.

Also… is that you I hear Charles M?. I can’t think of anyone else that would put in so much wacky effort with a trailer narrator voiceover 🤣

@N8tiveT3ch Xenoblade imported into Theatrhythm would be a thing of DREAMS. It has enough scope and epic tunage that a Rhythm game would work.

Drools