StephenYap3

@Ralizah ...okay, fine. I'll play through Operation C again and see if my opinion is concreted or changed.

@Eric_Shadow616 The limitations imposed from the Game Boy made Operation C unfun to me, not helped either by the lack of a two-player mode.

Eh, it's been a while I played this, but I don't think the game was that bad...though I wouldn't label it as one of the series' "goods" either.

I still prefer playing that over Konami's other game Operation C, though.

Edit: Sorry, people. I just get a little snappy when Castlevania Legends gets called a "poor game" when I don't think it's all that bad, though I wouldn't label that game as one of my favorites in the series either.

Anyways, I (re)played the first two levels of Operation C and Castlevania Legends, and while I've been more impressed with other games in each of their series, I didn't have too much of a bad time with either of those games I played.

Good. Maybe I'll buy this game after all.

I'm sorry, guys, but these "Japanese-only language" games on overseas eShops are things I refuse to accept (especially since I can't read or speak any language that isn't English, no matter how hard I try to get into learning other languages).

I really wish I can buy and play LilyDeux Black Lily Warning.

Edit: I'm specifically referring to games that "require" reading text. Some "simple" games like Suika Game, Puyo Puyo eSports (Puyo Puyo Champions, elsewhere), Joy Mech Fight, Kirby's Star Stacker SNES, and a few others I can handle.

7/10 for me.

The game is still good fun and I don't regret it at the end of the day, but there are some things I wasn't a fan of or wish it could've been better:

The bosses are absolutely pathetic as there are only a short amount of them in variety and scope. I would say that the final boss "made up for it", but that's because it was the only boss in the game I actually enjoyed in contrast.

The Wonder Flowers were neat ideas, but they also budged with the pacing and focus of the levels for me; I actually preferred the "structured" design of the previous 2D Mario games because they were very focused and gave me "everything" I needed for me and my own skills to succeed in, something in which SMBW's Wonder Effects just couldn't provide me with.

The Badge system felt way underdeveloped (especially compared to the Play Tonics system in Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair) in that not only can you only equip one of them and only being allowed to swap them between deaths in levels, but most of the badges that weren't Add ! Blocks and Coin Magnet were seemingly useless to me.

Overall, I wish Super Mario Bros Wonder could've been much better, despite having decent fun with it, and the only genuine least thing I can say about this game is that I'd still play it over Super Mario Run, which I thought was "meh" even for a (Nintendo) mobile game.

@the_beaver As much as I enjoyed the first five games in the series, The Origami King kind of left me with "low" feelings. The gameplay lacked depth and focus in that it has a hard time trying to provide a decent amount of fun factor between turn-based battles and Paper Macho battles, the former especially since you're forced to fiddle around with the Ring Slider each turn before even planning an attack. I feel that the game should've doubled-down on the turn-based battles or the Paper Macho battles, not both.

And while TOK does attempt to become closer to the first two games, I don't think it's close enough. Mario's attacks are among some of the weakest I've ever seen in the series in terms of selection, the enemy variety is too slim, there are still no statistical incentives to fighting enemies (even though Color Splash had "Hammer Scraps" to increase Paint capacity, but that's not the same), the out-of-battle Game Over situations are way out of hand and plentiful, and the accessories system is still a far cry from the first two games' Badge system (to the point that there's literally no reason to unequip the Heart, Guard, and Time Plus accessories).

That said, while TOK didn't impress me as much as its five predecessors, I still found it to be "okay" (at best). Hopefully the upcoming TTYD remake becomes the wake up call Intelligent Systems needs for the future of the series because while I did enjoy Sticker Star and Color Splash myself for what they were, their formulas have sung their last already and TOK is further proof of that, in my opinion.

@umbreon_sylveon There's a demo on the EU eShop for Born of Bread.

The Best 2D Mario Since The Super NES

Really? I hope this review is right because as big of a Mario fan I am, the two major things that I'm not a fan of (so far) are the lack of player collision in multiplayer and the badge system.

The former may have been a problem in previous games due to the overall chaotic nature of it and the fact that players can kill each other in-game, but when used in a more proper cooperative manner, it can be very fun to have players "help" each other and create tons upon tons of strategies when tackling levels, in my opinion.

The latter is seemingly a neat idea, but I really don't like how you're unable to equip more than one badge and even then, I do wish you're given the option to change badges at checkpoints during levels instead of having to die. Adding to that, some of the badges feel like they've been pulled from other games without much inspiration involved (Wall-Climb Jump is basically a one-jump version of the wall climb ability from the Mega Man X series, and Grappling Vine is basically the Rope Dart from The Messenger). Even the Play Tonics system from Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair lets you equip up to four effects and that game was released in 2019.

All-in-all, I'm going to reserve my full judgment until I play through the entire game (starting) tomorrow night and I do hope Super Mario Bros Wonder becomes another enjoyable Mario title to add to my Switch pedestal (alongside Super Mario Odyssey and Bowser's Fury).

Despite Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake releasing next year and being (far) more excited for that, I'm still interested in Born of Bread myself, especially considering how much "closer" it is looking to being a proper "Paper Mario-like" to me; as much as I greatly enjoyed Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling and The Outbound Ghost myself, neither of them were enough to fully scratch that Paper Mario itch of mine.

On a related note, I'm wondering how Scrap Story is doing...

"...BUT WHY, THOUGH?"

Anyways, I liked the original better.

Nothing wrong with the "tweaked" one and I liked it for what it is, but I prefer her "movie" look to stay separate from the game universe.

Still interested in the game, though, and I still liked the movie.

I love Kirby and Metroidvanias myself and I will continue to hold up both of their flags until the day I die, but I'm going to have to side with this review.

While other games in the (mainline) series left me with warm fuzzy impressions within, Kirby and the Amazing Mirror is one of those (very) few games that left me with frustrated feelings due to the one-way paths (why are these even there?), enemies messily-placed here and there that can knock Copy Abilities out of you more times than you can keep them (and speaking of, this game goes incredibly half-baked on providing a handful of them movesets while leaving the rest just one action), and pretty much every other idea that I think all Metroidvania games should avoid having. I actually enjoyed Kirby Super Star (Ultra)'s The Great Cave Offensive more for being more focused and better-designed.

The only pats I can give Kirby and the Amazing Mirror are the multiplayer mode (which I never experienced) and having some of the most open exploration I've ever experienced compared to most other Metroidvania games I played. I would also give the game a pat for its soundtrack, but that's par for course for the series, in my opinion.

Overall, I thought Kirby and the Amazing Mirror was "okay" (at best) and while I can give it the benefit for being a kid-friendly option on the Metroidvania shelf, that rarely matters much to me when that game is exceeded on every other category by other Metroidvania games on the same system (Castlevania and Metroid series).

Good. Will be keeping my eye out for Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time.

Great direct, especially for a huge Mario fan like myself. More info on Princess Peach: Showtime! and Super Mario RPG got me interested in them, F-Zero 99 became my favorite "99" game after Super Mario Bros 35 (despite being gone, no thanks to Pac-Man 99), Mario vs. Donkey Kong and other past games being remade, etc. And of course, the "last surprise" title. Glad to be able to play that on my Switch, though I do hope its predecessor gets the same treatment as well.

I would've liked to hear more info on Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, but this direct kicked so much butt for me that I can't be mad at it.

Amazing game. It's definitely a clear upgrade over 20XX, which was also great, and the added accessibility options helps a lot for those who couldn't get into roguelites.

One of the absolute best games I played this year.

Good to hear praise for this game and while I was excited for it at first, I'm gonna have to buy it later. Though I'm always down for more content compared to the still-great Super Bomberman R, there's just simply not enough of a reason for me to invest in its follow-up aside from the Louies in VS mode (I would've liked to see CPU difficulty, Power-Up Toggles, and Handicaps in the mode).

Cool. Not my favorite Paper Mario game (that'd be the predecessor on N64, which I personally hope gets the same treatment), but I'm glad to see this game come to Switch in a remade form.

Hopefully this game also becomes the "wake up call" Intelligent Systems needs for the Paper Mario series going forward.

Good. Been waitin' for this

Not to sound pessimistic or anything, but I kind of saw this coming, especially after hearing Wario's voice in the announcement trailer for the upcoming WarioWare: Move It!. I did hear from somewhere that Martinet would "continue to voice Mario until he drops dead" or something along those lines, but regardless I do wish the man all the best in the future and it's amazing how he's managed to stay the voice of a video game icon for 27 years, especially for my favorite video game series of all time.

That said, so as long as Nintendo can find someone else to pull off Mario's (as well as Luigi's, Wario's, and Waluigi's) voice decently, if not "perfectly", then I'll be okay with that. I didn't think Chris Pratt did Mario's voice justice in The Super Mario Bros Movie, but I'll still take it.

I'll be honest: I like the Sonic franchise myself, but I'm glad "Sister Sonic" never came to be. If I wanted Popful Mail, you give me Popful Mail.

Cool. I'm an American, but luckily I prepped myself a European account, so I'll go check it out.

I liked both Bug Fables and The Outbound Ghost myself, so this one should be another neat addition to my library.

I fairly enjoyed the two Toree games, so I can't wait for this one.

I do hope this next project has better ambition and scale, though. This whole "dirt cheap, high quality platformer" thing ran dry for me (and that also goes for Lunistice) and the recent Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara has left me satisfied enough for me to consider it the true "follow up" I wanted in that regard.

I'm surprised to see Yoshi's Crafted World NOT on the list. Good-Feel Ltd. definitely hit the jackpot in the graphics department on the Nintendo Switch and is no-doubt one of the system's best in that regard.

Then again, the graphics are the only good thing I can say about the game...

Hopefully it will be out soon. Been hyped for this all throughout this year.

Cool.

I also hope Tokyo Rumble comes to Switch as well. I really enjoyed that game, even moreso than River City Girls.

I do hope all the buyers enjoy it to the fullest, but I'm gonna pass on this one.

I'm never against multiplayer at all in platformers, but this game seems to expect you to have a friend or two or three in order to actually enjoy this one (and I don't have anybody to play with me these days -_- ) and while I'm never against "non-violent" games, the footages I've seen doesn't seem to make this game look enticing or fun for one bit to me.

Second, I'm not in the mood right now to support Disney at all, especially given that the (recent) decisions they made showed that they simply don't care about their own IPs these days and are bleeding money as a result. Most of the live action reboots of their old franchises left me very underwhelmed (and not just because of its "new looks") and their prioritizations of agendas over story/character development are simply absurd.

And thirdly, I just bought Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara and Yeah! You want "those games", right? So here you go! Now, let's see you clear them!, both of which I'm currently pecking away at and even then, 30XX is just a few blocks down and I'm more excited for that than anything this (and all of the next) month.

Can't wait to boot this up tomorrow night (at least, where I live). This is the first time I've ever actually been hyped for a Pikmin game and the demo further solidified that hype for me. Definitely the "Pikmin 3" I waited for.

I liked the NES versions quite a lot myself, but I'll always stick to the SNES versions at the end of the day for the save system alone.

Jontron: "...but why, though?"

Anyways, I liked the former logo better. I only liked Pikmin 4's logo for Pikmin 4. No need to "fix" the previous logos. In fact, you might as well change Skyward Sword HD's "The Legend of Zelda" logo to be similar to BOTW/TOTK's too.

Either way, this isn't too bad...at least, compared to the name change for Gal Guardians: Demon Purge (formerly "Grim Guardians: Demon Purge") due to a trademark troll.

Okay, THIS looks fun. Good-Feel definitely redeemed themselves for me after how letdown I was with Yoshi's Crafted World.

Hopefully this game gets localized closer to its Japan release.

Whatever. I personally don't care if it comes to Switch or not. I like Crash Bandicoot, but Team Rumble isn't coming to my plate.

Yeah, I saw some footage for this and I wasn't impressed. The game just looked way too simplistic for my tastes. Not even 1-2-Switch's mini games were this bland and those mini games were dull as well.

Looks fun. Will keep my eye on.

Kind of reminds me of NFL Blitz.

Glad to hear good first impressions from this. Can't wait to get my hands on this.

And I hear so many comparisons to New Super Mario Bros, but I'd like to compare this to Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends.

16/17

Fouled up on #8, but I haven't played TriForce Heroes or Four Swords.

Bingo. Been waitin' for this game to be announced for consoles. I liked 20XX myself, so 30XX should be another slice of cake to add to my plate

I still have this on my wishlist.

Good to hear good things about this game. Looks like I'll invest in this one later.

And contrary to the crowd, I'm not easily persuaded by microtransactions, especially if they're "cosmetic" stuff and nothing else.

I kind of forgot that this game existed, to be honest.

I liked Tetris 99 (to a certain extent) and Super Mario Bros 35, but Pac-Man 99 was kind of a "just there" game for how boring it was to me in pale contrast and the lack of sense of "incentives" from online matches didn't help either; Tetris 99 gave you Special Themes (via Maximus Cup events), Super Mario Bros 35 gave you stages to "practice" in, and Pac-Man 99...I guess nothing (as far as I knew from the few matches I played from it) and I don't consider its "paid DLC" themes to be on the same league as the other rewards the other NSO games provided you with for participating in online matches.

Either way, I would say that I'm sad to see Pac-Man 99 go (for online services), but I personally didn't care about it at all and therefore, I'm (much) more sad to see Super Mario Bros 35 leaving the building to be "replaced". I want that game back, especially since I've been a huge Mario fan since the day of my birth (and is my favorite NSO game).

On my wishlist.

Azure Striker Gunvolt has ended...but what about Mighty Gunvolt? Or a "spiritual successor", at least?

Yeah, I found that out a while back. Shortly after Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time got announced, I went onto its (Japanese) website and saw that "Level 5 Comcept" was developing it.

Now, I would say that has me "worried" (especially after the whole thing regarding Mighty No. 9), but I'm willing to give the man one more chance, especially if Level-5 can successfully put out the blueprints and other key features that made Fantasy Life on 3DS great for him to take in and learn (and judging by the few footage I've seen thus far, it seems pretty good to me...at least, compared to Mighty No. 9). If Inafune can pull off a decent product with this one at the very least, then my worries will pretty much only be a memory.

I'm glad to see these games come to Switch at last, especially V and VI as they are the highlights of the bunch of me.

...but I'll invest in this bundle later. Right now, I'm pecking away at the recently-released Brave Dungeon -The Meaning of Justice- and eventually Protodroid DeLTA for this month.

BOTW's trailer still amazed me more because of how epic it was on many angles. I especially liked how the music "builds up" throughout the trailer, which was something I felt was missing in TOTK's trailer for me.

15/15 for me.

Question 1 is comedy gold, though.

Yeah, all of the "cameos" and "fanservice" led me into believing that this movie was going to be different than the ones I've seen...

Regardless, I'm gonna go see the movie for two reasons:

1) I'm a massive Mario fan.
2) For a loved one.

It was quite the boomer of a year for the pink puffball, especially with the Music Fest in Japan. Hopefully that concert's soundtrack gets "released" for purchase.

And personally, I've yet to be disappointed with a mainline Kirby game on Switch (and I've played all mainline games at launch since Kirby's Return to Dream Land on Wii)...

Yeah, and Hotel Mario is getting a sequel.

Nintendo winning awards is always music to my ears and Kirby and the Forgotten Land is definitely one of the best Switch games in my book...but I still would've given the "Best Family Game" award to Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, in my opinion, had a stronger sense of "family" feeling on many corners and the massive amount of content and franchise's fanservice (as far as Star Wars games go), as well as the upgraded gameplay and QoL improvements, helped quite a ton as well to make it a must-have for a Lego game. Heck, it even had a much better co-op mode than Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the latter which (despite liking Bandana Waddle Dee myself) honestly felt like a last-minute addition to me for how "limited" it was in many ways, especially when compared to the likes of Kirby Super Star, Kirby Star Allies, and even Kirby's Dream Land 3.

Eh, as long as the game itself (particularly the offline portion) is fun, the live service elements can go "Wario" for all I care. I'm never swayed easily.

Now, if this game went the path of "Marvel's Avengers" with ho-hum gameplay (among other things) alongside its live service elements...hoo boy...

@Ralizah Agreed. I super wanted a WarioWare game on my Switch (at the time), but Get It Together! was not what I signed up for. Without a doubt my least favorite game in the series, despite having not played Mega Party Game$, Smooth Moves, D.I.Y. Showcase, or Snapped.

The characters feature was a neat idea, but it was faulty in execution, especially given that getting high scores is all a matter of luck and/dealing with "bad rolls" that do not work in the series' gameplay formula, in my opinion; the only time this idea actually worked was in Variety Pack mode, which wasn't much to write to the missus for either.