Splodge

Probably a coincidence but there is a Justin Bailey in the games industry now - he worked at DoubleFine. But it would probably already be known if he had anything to do with the password so there probably is no connection.

I strongly dislike the Adventure games (sorry, I don't mean to insult anyone who likes them - I know there is a lot of love for them). But of the two I think the first one is better so it's always baffling that people rank SA2 higher.

SA2 is a pain to play because it forces you to play the mediocre Knuckles and Tails levels before progressing the story, pulling you away from the enjoyable Sonic stages. I believe SA1 let you pick your characters so you could just play Sonic levels if you wanted and have a somewhat good time. And some of the open hubs in SA1 were interesting.

Just an observation really. Both games are bad (sorry again to the fans) but it's interesting that SA2 gets so much praise over the first one. If I had to guess it's because the early stages have a great energy - sliding through San Francisco to that song is a good feeling.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It truly is one game - what Sonic 3 should have been. I wish that were an option here (it's bizarre that it's not in this day and age). It's probably the game I've played to completion most in my life. And every time I play it I go all in (all Super Emeralds, Doomsday Zone etc.), which is unusual for me.

Because they're separate here, I'd have to rank 'Sonic & Knuckles' higher - most of the best zones are in the 'Sonic & Knuckles' portion and actually Sonic 3 has a few duds.

While I love the Ice Cap Zone and Launch Base, I have to say Hydrocity and Carnival Night are fairly dull. But 'Sonic & Knuckles' has hit after hit after hit; Lava Reef, Hidden Palace, Sky Sanctuary, Death Egg. All gold. Sandopolis is the only bad level in that game.

@iuli

Kupocake probably put it better but I think you're wrong here.

I love Miyazaki's movies but it's not right to say that he, himself, is Studio Ghibli. He is definitely massively important to what Studio Ghibli is but a studio (any studio) is always a collection of people and ideas - always a collaboration. I think it's wrong to discount that.

Also, non-Miyazaki movies are as much Studio Ghibli as his films are - I don't think it's right to brush aside Grave of the Fireflies because it doesn't fit your personal opinion of what Studio Ghibli's style is. Would you say the same for Pom Poko or Princess Kaguya?

Miyazaki has directed less than half of Ghibli's movies. The studio is much bigger than him - and it continues to get bigger as they branch into other media (games and TV). And when he does actually retire, there will still be a Studio Ghibli without him.

@Bunkerneath I went and they had a different short - it was about a spider. It was really good. I'd love to see the kitten bus one sometime (though it's unlikely).

@Mystique You uncultured swine!

I can see pros and cons for cloud games on switch. It's not for me personally because I like having the files locally for any game I own (even if my sd card is full I'll back it up to pc rather than outright deleting). And I absolutely hate the idea of having to queue for server time if I've bought a game (I believe Alex mentioned this in his video on Control).

Having said that, the Switch has a great form factor so it is nice to play all kinds of games on it, even if the game cannot run on it natively. I've been running Android on my switch and I've been playing pc games over Nvidia Moonlight. It's a great experience, even streaming from away from home. So I definitely see the appeal of these cloud games. (And I've read Valve might be putting out a SteamPal handheld that will essentially be the same thing).

But the pricing has to change. The games will not last. Servers will shutdown eventually. And the experience itself is limited (queueing, lag, performance spikes etc.). They need to be much cheaper or they need to give you some kind of permanent ownership (cross buy with pc or another platform maybe).

@LinktotheFuture

Yes, the wall jump mechanic is awful in that game. Super Metroid is my favourite game of all time but the wall jump is terrible.

In fairness, it was released before wall jumps were common but it's still too difficult to pull off (and not that useful elsewhere in the game).

I'm going to echo others and say you could also throw AM2R in there (as well as Samus Returns, not replacing it).

A lot of people saying it's better than Samus Returns - but for me it's apples and oranges. They both do different things well and both do some things badly. I think because it is a real underdog story, it's nice to think a lone developer did a much better job than Nintendo but for me they are difficult to compare.

Either way, it's an extremely good fan game. It feels really professional with just a little jank (I found it too easy to cheese the lower level Metroids, and remote controlling the robot felt clunky and fangamey).

Also, I did enjoy Other M. Story is awful, really terrible, rubbish. But i remember enjoying a lot of the gameplay. I haven't played it since launch but I remember enjoying it in spite of its flaws. So, maybe worth a look (after the rest).

Also, for Metroid Zero Mission, there is a small hack that removes the hints (there are Chozo statues that tell you almost exactly where to go). Without those the game is more exploratory and closer to the original/Super Metroid.

@Citano I'd say that's down to the source material - the Gameboy game also has you going area by area killing Metroids so it is also a bit linear in that way.

I don't mind linearity though - all of the games do have a sequence. I think people disliked that fusion told you exactly where to go rather than let you figure it out. I didn't mind it though - still one of my top GBA games.

There's a lot of negativity here, a lot of people against this because it's unnecessary.

But I think it's a nice experiment and I'd like to see how it feels, maybe try it for one playthrough. I think it looks good but even if it doesn't work, it's completely harmless (it doesn't replace the original game).

Some older games do benefit from wide-screen support - I'm looking forward to the new Sonic collection in particular.

Yes, the game was originally designed for 4:3 but it's still interesting to experiment with these things. I think if we didn't do unnecessary things, the world would be very boring.

That might honestly be why we haven't seen a pro version yet. The current games don't need it and sales are good enough that there's no need for a hardware refresh.

Something similar happened with GameBoy - there was a 32bit Gameboy successor developed but it was never sold because Gameboy Pocket was selling fine.

I love Transformers so I'll always be willing to give a look to whatever they put out. But I don't think this will do anything for me.

AR actually is a good fit for Transformers - imagine having to scan real cars on the street and then, on the phone, watching them transform and battle. It kind of fits the theme of these robots existing in the real world but hidden as everyday objects. But, actually I doubt they'll do anything quite that good - the amount of work/licensing to animate that properly would be expensive.

With Transformers,. they always seem to be making the wrong choices. The comics and the Bumblebee movie are great but the recent TV shows and games have been mixed to bad. They need to remaster the War for Cybertron games or Devastation (or make sequels in that style). I also think a TellTale style game based on the comics could really work - the characters and stories in Lost Light could definitely make a good basis for that.

@magnumc500 If you get a hdmi splitter and a second display you won't need to worry about input lag - so gameplay would go to both the pc (for streaming) and a second monitor (for viewing and playing on). That might be a lot to invest in though.

I kickstarted this and I'm mostly happy with it.

I think the pitch was completely wrong. They sold it as a way to use your computer as a display for playing games.

For me, the lag is too much for that - I tried Sonic Mania and could not do the springy conveyer-belts in Press Garden at all (without deliberately pressing buttons early). Online, I've read that different cables might reduce lag (I think they said that a high-end cable designed for VR headsets worked well) so there might be hope there.

Purely as a display, it's fine for turn-based games or other games that require less-precise timing but not something I really need.

I want to experiment with in-home (and out of home) streaming - with Moonlight or Steam Link. Lag would be ridiculous but in theory, if there was a way to also send bluetooth inputs, you could play switch (and other less-portable consoles) from other rooms/locations. That's just something I want to try for fun though; it's not really practical.

But like I said I am happy with it - for the size and price. I will probably use it for capture more than viewing. I'm thinking about using it with a retrotink to digitize old tapes.

Super Nin-spreader World

Great video. Accessibility is really important so it's great that these kinds of controllers exist and that you are showcasing them. I can imagine a video like this will spread awareness of this kind of product and get it into the hands of those who need it.

One criticism though (and I think the video is good and respectful so I don't mean this harshly) - Alex repeatedly says that this product isn't designed for him and he doesn't have the understanding to review it. Given that, I'd say that NintendoLife should have partnered with someone who does need this kind of controller and included them in the video - that might have provided better insight. Those are the voices that really matter when looking at these things. Maybe I'm nitpicking but i'm sure that would have been possible, easily enough.

Oof, this was honestly one of the stand-outs of that direct for me so this is disappointing. Opinions in the comments vary so I may still try it at some point but maybe not at full price.

Something similar happened with Gunpei Yokoi. He left Nintendo after the failure of the Virtual Boy. I don't know enough about Japanese business culture but maybe that kind of thing is expected. So, even if Naka left voluntarily, he may not actually have had any choice.

It's a good video. But I wouldn't say that any of the fault for Balan Wonderworld should be put on the team - which I take to mean the developers and artists who actually made the game. In software development, whether a project works out or not is usually determined by leadership. I've worked on projects that didn't work out and others that did - in all cases, the team has been highly skilled and talented. It's always been poor direction that lead to a failure. I wouldn't blame the team at all here (especially because ground level developers are often undervalued and overworked).

It could be a lack of time or resources, or poor planning or lack of vision on Naka's part. Or maybe the game turned out exactly how he wanted (there are people who do like the game so it may also be wrong to talk about it as an objective failure, creatively).

Smash Tennis. I really hope this game isn't being slept on. It's a great tennis game with a really fun presentation. I'd say it's the best Tennis game on SNES (maybe the best ever). It feels like a better version of Super Tennis.

I haven't been playing it on NSO much but a few years back I picked up a Japanese cart (Super Family Tennis) and it's become my go-to multiplayer game.

This series is excellent. I have a hard time getting into River City Ransom on NES (just because A+B together to jump feels wrong - but I could probably remap that these days) but the 3DS games are amazing and severely underrated. I'd love those to be rereleased on Switch.

I've always thought the Yakuza series felt like a big budget 3D version of these games - open world Tokyo-set action-RPG. Kiryu's suit is even reminiscent of Kunio's grey school uniform. So, if Kunio came back in 3D, that might be the model to follow.

The problem with Best of E3 awards is that they are easily misunderstood. They are used in advertising and on box-art (and also by fans) to say that a game is good.

But best of E3 awards just mean, that at E3, that game had the best demo or presentation; that it showed well - it doesn't mean that it was the best game at E3 or that the final product will be a good game. It's not indicative of the final product.

If I remember correctly, journalists hated Arkham Asylum when they tried it at E3 but it was loved when it came out. And on the other side, other games have won Best of E3 and not turned out well. That does not mean that they were retroactively, not the best of E3.

So, although I think it does make sense to have an award for Best of E3, it's not good how it's used - it shouldn't be used in advertising or as a way to promote a final product. The award does not mean a game is good - just that it was presented well. So, we might be better off without these awards if that is how it will ultimately be used.

Medal of Honor Heroes 2 deserves to be on here (in place of CoD). The online was great and it really perfected motion controls for FPS games at a time when other games were really struggling with it.

(Sorry to do the classic annoying comment of complaining that a list is missing something.)

I'm always on for more Iga-vania. And I'm happy it seems to be working out for him - I understand Konami wouldn't let him make these kinds of games anymore so it's great he gets to now.

The project had a lot of parallels with Mighty Number 9 - both being Kickstarter projects and both continuing classic series (without the branding) by the original developers. But I'm so glad this one worked out better than MN9.

I'd just been thinking I wanted to play DQ3 soon so this news is really welcome. I started it before but never finished it.

But I'm really on the fence between playing the remake or the NES or SNES versions. I think the remake is beautiful but it's very stylised which adds a layer of something on top of the original game, it really changes the atmosphere - that's neither positive or negative but I think it will make for a different experience so I'm not sure what would make a better first (full) playthrough. Then again, if Jon was happy to first experience it through the gross mobile port, maybe the game content itself supersedes any art-styles applied to it.

@Luigisghost669 I'd say they will - they're keeping the Lite around so it's most likely all games will have to be compatible with the Lite (which means they'll work on the original Switch too). I really doubt they'd sell the Lite and the Pro and not have all games work on both.

@LaytonPuzzle27
That game actually isn't that bad - one of the better LJN games.

Oracle of Ages is for sure my favourite. Back then, I was really hyped for the three Mystical Seed Zelda games that were coming - it is a pity we only got two of them but they were amazing games. It is amazing that two of the big games of 2001 looked like they could have come out in the 80s (though that is kind of normal now).

Wario Land II is also great. It really established what Wario Land was and moved it away from the standard Mario-style platformer. Replacing death with transformations was genius.

While Wario Land II was also on a grey GB cart, it is interesting that the grey cart never came out in Japan - it was exclusive to the West, which is rare for a Nintendo game. I think it's because the Japanese release date was later and closer to the GBC launch.

Honestly, it's a good idea and this kind of thing has always been coming. I'm surprised to see so much negativity here.

The whole thing could fail like Stadia but if it worked out, it could be good. If it worked exactly like their Film/TV streaming, I would be onboard.

Being able to access a large library of games for a small monthly fee would definitely expand the number and types of games I'm playing. There are always games that I would like to own properly (same with films/TV really) but there are also plenty of games I'd be fine experiencing but not owning.

But Netflix would absolutely have to license existing games and not just rely on original content. I always get the sense that they cut corners/budgets on their original content so the real value of this service would come if they also had good third party support.

If the games are streamed (in the same way as GeForce Now or some Switch games), that would also be great for people who don't (or can't) have a console or pc - or it could even just help fill the gaps between upgrades. There is a massive GPU shortage right now so plenty of people want to play games but can't until affordable supply is available.

The Game Center CX episode on this game was great. I love that show in general but particularly for games like this - games that I wouldn't necessarily want to play for myself (because they are too hectic or difficult etc) but are really enjoyable to experience vicariously through Arino.

It is a pity that there was resistance to releasing games in the West if they were "too Japanese". It's understandable but we really were robbed of games like this (as well as the majority of the Goemon series and I think also some of the Kunio period-set games).

I love LEGO but what they're doing with Mario is not for me. The Mario sets are great and very Nintendo and I do hope it's working for them. But it is aimed at children and it is doing something very different from normal LEGO.

I would love a more traditional set with standard minifigures - maybe an airship or something like that. Bowser's Japanese-style castle from Odyssey would be great. Or maybe the planets from Mario Galaxy.

But what they are doing isn't bad - I'm just not the audience.

I started playing the Yakuza series in December and since then I've played through almost all of them (working on Like a Dragon now).

It's become one of my favourite series and I'd say Yakuza 0 is definitely in my top 5 (though I also really like Yakuza 5 and Yakuza Kiwami 2). So, very recent for me.

Also, during lockdown, played through the recent Goemon translations that came out last year. Those were all amazing. I'd say the third one is my favourite - it's very Zelda like with nice mini-metroidvania dungeons.

These releases were great. And furthermore I think some of them were free as part of various special offers - I remember getting ExciteBike and Kid Icarus for free. 3DS in Europe had a a lot of free game offers (I think I even got Animal Crossing for free because I had 2 of the other big games).

I do disagree that these are the definitive ways to play these games. Some of the changes are too much. I really disliked that I could not turn off the backgrounds in Kid Icarus - that it could not be made closer to the NES experience.

I will also say that NintendoLife grossly misuses the term 'Game Preservation'. Reselling a game is not game preservation - especially in this case, where it's a rebuild of the game and not even the original version.

Reselling a game is not the same as reprinting a book etc. Video game consoles last 5-10 years - so any kind of rerelease will always very quickly end up stranded on a dead format. So, a rerelease like this does not preserve a game in any meaningful way. The Wii VC version of Super Mario Bros did nothing to preserve that game. That version is not available now - the original NES version is easier to obtain at this point. So VC was not true game preservation. Also VC and most retro collections are usually motivated by money, the aim is to earn income from popular properties, rather than any real attempt to preserve a game as an archival piece, regardless of fame or quality as true preservation would do (that's why we've gotten 7+ releases of Super Mario Bros for 5 dollars each and sadly no recent rerelease at all for Flimbo's Quest)

I don't think true preservation really exists in the industry yet (outside of independent video game / computing museums). Film preservation usually involves archives, where prints and ancillary materials (posters etc.) are preserved and restored - and made available either through physical libraries or online, or traveling exhibitions. True game preservation would be something similar to that - permanent (not on a limited time format), altruistic (not motivated by profit) and also not just for the most famous/fun games.

I'm definitely in for both. These games get mentioned every now and then on Game Center CX - as well as the Portopia series and other Famicom mystery games - so I've been curious to try them for a while. I think it's worth supporting the release - maybe we'll get more like this, new localisations of other Japan-only releases, or even new games in the series.

I am worried that some of the puzzles will be dated or obtuse. I like the genre but have trouble with that sometimes. I usually need a guide, even for Lucasarts adventure games.

I really liked Samus Returns but did not like Mirror of Fate. So this could go either way.

I'd guess Samus Returns was good because Nintendo has high standards and pushed MercurySteam to meet them. And Sakamoto's involvement as producer probably helped too.

Without Nintendo's involvement I wouldn't expect anything great from MercurySteam but I'd be happy to be proven wrong. And maybe I am wrong - maybe they'll take what they learned on Samus Returns and continue to improve as a studio.

@CammyUnofficial Enjoy!

I didn't hear no bell.

@CammyUnofficial

I usually just browse the Gameboy tag on itch.io. It can be hit and miss but I have found some good things there:
https://itch.io/games/tag-gameboy

Also GB Studio Central has some information on Games and GB Studio in general:
https://gbstudiocentral.com/

Besides that Youtube reviews have been helpful too. Retrobreak on Youtube has a few videos on gameboy homebrew:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-zrPcuKgzg

I really liked the movie and I would be on for another one.

I think it was a good move to make a movie based on one of the more concept-heavy spin-offs rather than trying a straight up Pokémon red/blue style adventure. I'm hoping the Mario movie is secretly doing that - hoping that it's based on Mario Kart or Dr Mario or even Luigi's Mansion (something with a stronger hook than just a princess-rescue adventure).

Having said that, now that the world is established, they could try a more traditional Pokémon-trainer story.

This should definitely happen and now is the right time .

There's a lot of people rediscovering gameboy right now - the homebrew scene has really kept the platform alive and gotten people interested in both new and old gameboy games.

So, now, while there is interest, it could easily be a hit on NSO. But they'd really have to curate the catalogue well - there are a lot of bad gameboy games. Putting too many of those up early, could turn people off. But a steady stream of good games would be great.

Having said that, I don't think Nintendo will do it - they've been uploading NES and SNES games at a glacial pace and seem to have no interest in adding other platforms.

But for me that's okay - because it almost seems like Gameboy as a platform no longer belongs to Nintendo. It has been seized by the community. Some of Gameboy's best games are coming out now, with no connection to Nintendo thanks to homebrew developers. I've really been enjoying the games made with GB Studio - Wishing Sarah, Dragonborne, Deadeus etc.

And also the best Gameboy hardware is being created now and, again, not from Nintendo - the Analogue Pocket but also, original hardware is being modded with custom shells, screen mods, sound mods etc.

Gameboy has kind of outgrown Nintendo and become an open platform (in terms of both hardware and software). So, while I would like Gameboy on Switch Online, I wouldn't be disappointed when it doesn't happen. NSO and Virtual Console are for dead consoles. Gameboy is still very much alive.

@BizarreJelly28980

It could happen. There were Yakuza games on Wii U in Japan. Probably only in Japan because the series wasn't that popular in the West. But recently the series has exploded in popularity here. So, they might re-evaluate what platforms they put it on - with the bigger fanbase, it might be worth the cost of porting.

@BloodNinja I've always thought it would be much more interesting to do a Mario Kart movie, rather than a straight-up Mario movie.

@pixelpatch @Roibeard64

For GBA, there's a lot of sites selling IPS screen replacement kits. But often, they are just resellers. The exact same kits are being sold directly from China.

It is worth supporting local sites because a lot of them are also developing new shell designs and other accessories (so their income does go towards good projects) - and it does help grow the community. But it is also worth knowing that you can get these screens from China, from sellers on Ali Express and similar sites. it's a longer wait time but, from what I've seen, it is the same product being sold, for much cheaper. The main downside would be that customer-service is probably non-existent if you had problems after buying. But it is an option.

As for Rose Colored Gaming, I really wouldn't recommend them. I bought a backlit GBA from them a few years ago and was disappointed with the quality. Main issue was that the d-pad was massively unresponsive, barely working at all. Later, the speaker stopped working completely. Very pretty but completely unplayable as a gameboy.

Nice. I really liked this one (even more so the orange/silver version they showed). I wish these ones had been released - though the purple one they launched with was good in its own way (and more consistent with GameCube). You can get replacement shells in these colours now and it really works.

I wouldn't say they gave up - I'd say they completed the project successfully and ended it at the right point.

N64 wouldn't have the same mainstream appeal. These mini consoles are best suited to endcaps, where they would be noticed and picked up by everyone - not just people who play a lot of games. SNES and NES were absolute icons of gaming - that can't be overstated - they were absolutely beloved. By comparison, N64 is barely a footnote. Even amongst fans, it's not as iconic (even if it is well loved). PlayStation won that era. N64 was almost niche.

For me personally, it would be a struggle to find enough good games to make it a compelling purchase. It's just a personal opinion but there are a few great N64 games, but only a few. Maybe if they included the Japanese only Goemon games, it would appeal to me (but again, that wouldn't give it much mainstream appeal).

Gameboy would make more sense. It is also a titan, like NES and SNES. But, to do it right, at a comfortable size, with a good screen, battery etc. it may get too expensive to be worth producing.

I like Twin Snakes but it purposely deviated from the original. I believe Kojima instructed the cutscene director Ryuhei Kitamura to purposely make the cutscenes different from the original - so they ended up a bit weirder. (I say that as a fan of Kitamura - I remember really liking his films 'Versus' and 'Aragami'. 'Godzilla: Final Wars' had its moments.). So, from that point of view, maybe a remake makes sense - if they wanted to do something closer to the original in tone.

I can understand why some people here are against remakes and remasters. But I've recently been playing through the Yakuza series. The remakes of the original two games (Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2) are amazing. For me, the PS2 versions are a little bit dated. Even though I do play a lot of old games, those seemed clunky to me and I probably wouldn't have gotten into the series if those were the only option. The remakes retold those stories using the engine and improvements from the later games. And because of those improvements, it really helped me get into that world (which is now one of my favourite series). I can see the same happening for MGS. A good remake could easily bring more fans into the series.

And also, with Yakuza, the remakes don't replace the originals. Yakuza Kiwami 2 in particular is not a 1:1 remake - it's almost like a new game with the same story - so there is still a benefit to playing the original. I'd hope an MGS remake would do the same - not replace the original but exist alongside it.

Isometric multiplayer? Surely, asymmetric.

As for the Wii U, one thing people never mention is how horrible the interface is. I loved the games and the GamePad was a massive convenience. But one thing I hated about the system was the slowness of startup and navigating the menus - especially when moving and deleting games (to HDD etc.)

Sadly Aspyr's work on their recent Star Wars ports has been really sloppy. I bought Jedi Outcast on launch day but couldn't play it for about a month because there was no option to invert the y axis until it was patched back in (something I don't think was even mentioned in the Nintendolife review, grumble grumble).

I do like KOTOR and would normally be really happy for a remake but sadly, I don't have faith in them to get it right (not without a few post-launch updates anyway).

@Moistnado

They actually offered it to Nintendo for free: http://mother3.fobby.net/blog/2013/04/20/offer-to-nintendo/

But at the time, I remember some people saying that there might be some legal issues with Nintendo going along with that.

Really though, I think Nintendo just don't want to release it. Financially, I think they could handle the cost of an official translation (if one doesn't already exist) so they probably wouldn't need to use the fan translation anyway.

Kid Dracula spin-off, let's go!