StarryCiel

I think Mario Party Advance is genuinely really underrated. It gets a lot of hate for not being a "true Mario Party" and for how much dialogue it has, but I think it's genuinely a really fun adventure game with charming writing that rivals the Mario RPGs. So many obscure characters and species from 64 and Yoshi's Island in particular get represented here, and some of the tasks you get to do are quite fun, like watching a dolphin's comedy routine, playing baseball with Mr Blizzard, and all the detective and Toad Force V quests. It's easily the best single-player experience a Mario Party game has to offer.

Wonder is far and away the longest 2D Mario game in terms of its main campaign, but it's a real shame how lacking it was in terms of reasons to come back after 100%ing it. It didn't have any of the sidemodes of the New games, nor did it even save your best times and scores like 3D World. It's these little bits of side content that help make a game feel like it's worth coming back to, rather than just being a one-and-done thing.

Pretty packed week, not gonna lie. I already got Cavern Of Dreams and I'm adoring it so far, and I'm excited to check out Ufouria 2 after seeing all the positive reviews it's gotten.

I'll also probably get Berserk Boy at some point if I hear good things about it, but there's so much coming out right now that I think I'll wait a bit to get it.

Not bad, but not particularly amazing either. I got Penny's Big Breakaway and a Pepper Grinder release date, and it crammed quite a lot of games in its short runtime, but a lot of it isn't for me.

Already got it, it's pretty fun so far. It is locked to 30fps on Switch, but it's a stable 30fps, no drops or stutters from what I've seen. If you have a PC or PS5 then by all means get that version, but this isn't a bad port at all.

You don't need to use the console, but there are plenty of solid games on the Virtual Boy I'd recommend people check out, even if it's emulated. VB Wario Land and Jack Bros are fantastic, Teleroboxer is a gem for those who like Punch Out, I personally really like Mario Clash, and Space Squash and Insmouse No Yakata are also good times for those into more niche stuff.

Freedom Planet 1 is one of my favorite games of all time so I'm ridiculously hyped to finally get a chance to play the sequel. Glad to finally have a release date!

The original game had 104 levels. If you factor in the two worlds, their plus stages, and the new expert stages revealed on the website, there should be roughly 138 levels in the remake, which is around a 33% increase. I don't know if this makes the remake an absolute must-buy yet, but this is definitely better than I was expecting after that first trailer.

To be fair, Miyamoto isn't necessarily wrong here, even he was quite blunt about it. The first Mother game was remarkably ambitious and forward-thinking for an NES game, even moreso when you take into consideration the fact that Nintendo hadn't made many other RPGs before (the only exception I can think of being Pax Softnica's Ginga No Sannin which itself was a lot smaller in scale). But that just makes it all the more impressive that Itoi, Iwata, and the rest of their team were able to pull it off.

Very nice to see Trails music get some appreciation even if Azure technically came out over a decade ago. Super Mario RPG had my favorite soundtrack for how much it elevates the original tracks, but props also need to go to Gravity Circuit's blood-pumping eurobeat-inspired score that captures a lot of the same vibes as the Mega Man X soundtracks.

@Warioware DaiOuJou is definitely a great bullet hell game, but it's generally considered to be one of the hardest out there and I would absolutely not recommend it as anyone's first game. If you think bullet hells as a whole are too much for you, DaiOuJou is probably going to make you like them even less.

That being said, if you're still really curious about the hype over Cave's games, I'd recommend looking into Mushihimesama, which is also on Switch and made by the same dev team (though it's not a Shottriggers port). It's just as good as DaiOuJou while being infinitely more accessible to newcomers.

My favorite game is Super Mario Galaxy but I absolutely despise the two Stars where you have to clear garbage with Bob-Ombs. They are way too tight for how unprecise Bob-Omb throwing is in this game, and always drag my enjoyment to a halt until they're over.

Song Of Storms is my favorite like everyone else, but the Song Of Time also has an unfair advantage from being inextricably tied to Majora's Mask, so I have even more of a connection to it after all the times I've had to reset the clock in that game.

Look, I get that Funky Kong is this memetic sacred cow and saying anything bad about him is akin to sacrilige, but like, he is a very loud and boisterous character. It's totally understandable if that puts someone off.

Metal Gear spinoffs can work. The Acid games are well-liked, Ghost Babel is fantastic, Revengeance is obviously a cult classic, and Peace Walker (a Kojima game) was built off the groundwork that Portable Ops established. I think it's fine if the series keeps continuing with these kinds of experimental games as long as they keep with the spirit of the series (so not like Survive).

Murasame Castle is just fascinating to me. It's basically a very early version of a hack-and-slash and I find that really cool.

Poplins just remind me of the Piantas from Super Mario Sunshine who would hide Shine Sprites that you need to save their own town. It's probably even worse this time since they're making their own prince pay and work for them? Talk about useless.

Seeing the griping about Wonder's story and dialogue really surprised me! I always felt like one of Mario's greatest weaknesses has been how much of a blank slate it is character-wise and how repetitive its plot structure feels, and I'd totally eat up a more story-heavy 2D Mario game.

I always preferred the All-Stars visuals to their NES counterparts but I grew up with Advance 4 so that's an easy vote from me, especially now that Nintendo's including all the E-Reader levels whenever they re-release it.

@HolyGeez03 I wouldn't say that it ruins their hard work. All the previous best times left their own mark on the speedrunning community and helped pave the way to where we are now. I'm sure most if not all of those runners are happy to have managed to win first even if it was for a brief period of time.

The GBC is one of my favorite handhelds, I just love how pretty much every first-party game in its library has something really cool going for it. Wario Land 3 and Pokemon's day-night cycles, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge and Game & Watch Gallery 3 hiding unreleased games as secrets or unlockables, Super Mario Bros Deluxe's laundry list of bonus content, Pokemon GSC's postgame, the linked Oracle Zeldas, Hamtaro giving its protagonist 86 unique context-sensitive animations, Tilt & Tumble's motion controls, and the JP-only Mobile Golf having actual online support and DLC. I didn't even mention Link's Awakening DX, Game & Watch Gallery 2, Wario Land 2, Tetris DX, Pokemon Trading Card Game, and the Mario Tennis & Golf games. It's one of Nintendo's most consistently strong first-party lineups despite how small it is.

Probably not my thing but it looks gorgeous, reminds me of PS1 spritework like in Legend Of Mana or Rhapsody

My biggest concern about Move It right now is the side content. Get It Together was super replayable with its multiple characters, postgame, side minigames, online tourneys, achievements, and Break Room but all I've seen of Move It so far has been the story and party modes, which are in every WarioWare game.

Amazing Mirror tends to be a bit hit-or-miss with people, but I think it's generally agreed upon that (as funny as the AI can be) this game is at its best when you're playing with friends and can all split up to explore the world and help each other out. I'm glad way more people can experience that now.

This direct wasn't the most surprising out there, but it was one of the most satisfying. Everything I was hoping to see was there and then some. F-Zero 99 has been a ton of fun, I'm very glad they're returning to the OG style of Mario vs Donkey Kong, Princess Peach looks way better than I expected, and the RPG remakes look stellar. Sure, there are a lot of remakes, but they all look quality which is way more than I could say about the Wii U or 3DS's final years.

I don't know about everyone else but I love the Mode 7 F-Zeros and 99 has been a blast so far. It controls really tightly and brings over the boost and spinning mechanics from X and GX, so it doesn't just feel like an SNES port.

I tried the demo and it was good, nice and beefy and around a fourth of the game, but I feel like I got everything I wanted out of it, which is perfectly fine. I guess the Metroid-esque elements of Gato Roboto was more my speed.

I'm very much pro-nostalgic reimaginings. Sometimes the developer is just not going to continue that series you like, which can especially sting if said series has a unique style of gameplay like JSR. It makes me happy to see indie devs take their favorite series and genres, and make a distillation of everything they love about it.

Hard disagree. He's fine as a one-off gimmick but he's way too overpowered to be a regular thing, and I'd much rather Nintendo keep experimenting with team arrangements with each sequel. Also, Oatchi can do a lot, but I still think peak Pikmin tactics was with the three captains in the last game.

One of the best Castlevania games imo. Konami needs to release a DSvania collection so more people can discover how good it (and Portrait Of Ruin) is.

Both box arts are great but I gotta go with the action pose for the Europe box, it's just way more clean.

I couldn't get into GX, and every time I play it, I like it less. Aside from it having probably the best visuals on the Gamecube, I agree that it's just too unnecessarily hard, and the Story Mode in particular is just plain masochistic. X by comparison is tighter, more focused, more aggressive, more balanced in its difficulty while still being challenging, far superior in terms of music, and it has the X Cup. If X had the visuals of GX, it would unquestionably be the better game.

Those who haven't played Tour are not prepared for how much of a joyous spectacle Vancouver Velocity is, it might be my favorite track in Tour. Very excited to play it in an actually good Mario Kart game (sorry to Tour fans).

Second place goes to Moonview Highway because I always found it to be criminally underrated and I'm very excited to see it back.

Lunistice was one of my favorite games of last year and that run was absolutely wild, almost anxiety-inducing in how relentlessly fast it is. Definitely worth checking out if you wanna see a brisk run that's light on glitches and heavy on really precise movement.

I mean, for hundreds of hours of content, the price can't be that ba... what do you mean it's $80?!

TotK's dungeons are definitely an improvement, both in terms of visual variety and gameplay (original bosses, a 2D map making navigation a bit more of a puzzle), but they're still not ideal. What's missing from these dungeons is a sense of progression where it feels like you're working your way through a temple. Hitting five switches just isn't as satisfying.

@Sinton LttP's dungeons are very heavy on the combat, and the Boss Key unlocking the dungeon item is something no other game in the series does. Awakening's dungeons strike a better balance between navigation, platforming, puzzle-solving and combat. I also think the overworld is more dense and visually-varied than LttP's Hyrule, and I prefer how you slowly uncover it throughout the game. As for the combat and movement in general, it just feels more fluid in the GB games and Link's sword is a bit less stubby.

I hard disagree on the dream story though, I'd say it's one of the most personal and emotional stories in the series and the way the twist was revealed is incredibly well-done. Link's Awakening is one of my favorite games period, it doesn't matter if it's on a Game Boy or a Switch, 2D or 3D, because I think its design is pretty much perfect.

I'm glad to see Link's Awakening in the Top 3, it's got one of the best stories, soundtracks, and settings in the series. It's also secretly one of the most influential Zelda games too, LttP may have established the Zelda formula but Awakening refined it in terms of combat, progression, and how dungeons worked. It's the superior game in every way aside from scale.

8/10. It makes a lot of improvements over BotW mechanically and the dungeons are way better, but it also feels kinda over the place and lacks the cohesion that BotW had. Majora's Mask being as amazing and original as it is probably sent my expectations too high, this is just Breath Of The Wild but more.

I want another Game & Watch Gallery game so bad, it's such an amazing series. So addicting and charming, with loads of little extras to unlock per game.

Noooooooooo...

What a legend, between Mario Kart Wii, Mario Galaxy 2, and Wii Sports Resort, this man practically made my childhood.

Age Of Calamity being advertised as a prequel to BotW only to turn out to be an AU still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

@RupeeClock It's also worth noting that Pointcrow commissioned the multiplayer mod for $10,000, so technically he did profit off of it. I'm sure he meant well, but that probably didn't help his case with Nintendo. Bowser gets no sympathy from me though.

As @MikeJones said, there are perfectly good reasons to boycott companies, but defending their IP within their rights isn't that big of a deal-breaker for a lot of people. You can feel Nintendo went too far, and still enjoy their games while being cognizant of the things you think they screw up with. Either way, bringing it up in a comment section where people are being excited for the new game just feels like you're bringing down the mood.

I don't think anything will top the Octo Expansion for me, at least as far as Nintendo's DLC campaigns go. Very different game, for sure, and not nearly as long, but the tone, story, level design philosophy, and soundtrack are all so distinct from the rest of Splatoon that I still treat it like its own game. I've replayed it countless times by now and it's still an absolute blast. Side Order has a high bar to live up to.

FFV was done dirty in this review, it's my favorite game out of the bunch. It may lack the story scope of IV or VI, but the characters are lovable and easy to get attached to, and the core gameplay is hands down the best in any FF game. The job system grants you so much freedom and customization while being streamlined and accessible for newcomers. It's extremely well-crafted and more people need to give it a chance.

I was surprised to find Touhou Luna Nights never got a review, it's easily the best Touhou game on the console in my opinion, official or fanmade. It's a gorgeous time-stopping knife-throwing metroidvania by the Deedlit In Wonder Labyrinth (8/10) devs that I'd recommend to any fan of the genre regardless if you're familiar with the source material or not.

The BOTW trailer is definitely more iconic, but it was also kinda inaccurate. It led a ton of people to think that game was going to be way more story-driven than it actually was.

We obviously haven't played TOTK yet, but it had more of a focus on showing us all the new cool gameplay and story elements that we hadn't seen up to this point. And where I was already sold on BOTW by the Nintendo Switch presentation, this was the trailer that sold me on TOTK.

Wow, what a jaw-dropping video. You really pulled out all the stops here. A truly magical eight minutes, I don't think I'll ever think of Alex or Nintendo Life the same again after this.

Some of the greatest games of all time are asset flips/feature heavy asset reuse, not just from Nintendo. Majora's Mask, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby Planet Robobot, Fallout New Vegas, literally every Fromsoft and Yakuza game. Carrying over elements from previous games is not a bad thing on its own, it all depends on how they're used. That's why I trust that TotK will still be able to bring a new experience to the table.

That being said, I don't think Nintendo has really showed us what that new experience entails yet. We now know some of the new gameplay features, but we still need to know what TotK's structure will be. The story, the dungeons, the main goal, the progression, the collectibles, that'll all play a huge part in differentiating the game from its predecessor. And since we still don't have any info on that even two months before release, I can't blame people for feeling a bit wary.

@EarthboundBenjy As a big fan of the series, I think the Phantasy Reverie Series is a good way to play the original games, but I still prefer the originals. It ties the reach of your main attack to the difficulty which can make picking up enemies a bit finicky at times, and Klonoa moves a bit fast in the first game. None of this is a deal-breaker, though, and the Klonoa 2 port is practically flawless, so I'd still highly recommend getting it if you have no other way to play the series. They're both fantastic games and incredibly unique platformers.