Tchunga

@Jedrus_Lilac Yes, I made a whole retrospective on it:

https://youtu.be/IvoHq4QAJz4?si=T40D55aR9rtpDZh7

Gotta love a bunch of anime avatars unironically complaining about english vs japanese dubs. Good stuff

@CJD87 Wild Hearts is by far the best Monster Hunter clone yet in my opinion. It not only captures the essence of the MH formula but it also innovates on the formula in plenty of ways as well. Namely with the building aspect which is surprisingly fun to use. I actually miss it when going back to normal Monster Hunter, which is something I never thought I'd say.

Overall Wild Hearts is my 3rd favorite hunting game, and that includes Monster Hunter as well. And for a point of reference I've been playing Monster Hunter since Tri on the Wii. If you're open minded enough to play a "clone" of Monster Hunter then Wild Hearts is absolutely worth giving a go imo

@Jedrus_Lilac I guess you should only stick with Metroid too then. Because Castlevania, Hollow Knight or Ori are just imitators as well. Or only play Mario because that's the only "real platformer" all other platformers are just cheap copies am I right?

1. Elite Beat Agents
2. Mario Kart DS
3. Pokemon SoulSilver
4. New Super Mario Bros.
5. Electroplankton

I think Elite Beat Agents might be the single most underrated game on the entire system. Such a stylish and delightful rhythm game, its a shame it never got a proper sequel. Well not outside of Japan anyway

Won't be picking this one up and it's not because of the $60 price tag. Luigi's Mansion 2 is the "Sticker Star" of the Luigi's Mansion series. It has practically none of the charm or the atmosphere that made the original so memorable. On top of that they butchered the level design by segmenting the freeroam exploration into tiny bite sized chunks that constantly drag you out of the action. LM2 is unironically one of the worst Nintendo games I've ever played and it's not even worth anyone's $40 (which is what it cost on 3DS) let alone anyone's $60

Interesting. Also noticed a red 'nintendo' splash screen when booting up TTYD remake and thought it was odd. As I cant recall ever seeing that particular splash screen when booting up any of the other 1st party Nintendo Switch games. Makes me wonder what they're cooking up, and if they're at all related somehow

I dont even really understand why there's a debate around this subject at all. The difference between a remake and a remaster is fairly obvious.

Remake = remade from the ground up

Remaster = updated using original assets

Going any deeper than that is just getting lost in the weeds imo. I see people say that only the Final Fantasy 7 Remake is a "true" remake. Or that the Resident Evil 2 Remake is a "true" remake but those are arguably completely different games. If every remake had to be that extensive then practically every modern remake couldn't be considered a remake. Idk. This entire discourse is quite baffling to me. It's like video game genres, for some reason no one can seem to agree on what genre anything is. Lol

The original Dark Souls certainly comes to mind. The way its map is laid out makes traversal quick and painless despite the games otherwise brutal nature. And before backtracking even gets the chance to grow tiresome the game very smartly awards you with the ability to fast travel. I've replayed through it no less than 50 times because I find it so perfectly paced.

Elden Ring on the other hand is the exact opposite. The map is so needlessly big that you'll find half of your playtime is spent riding on horseback across vast, and empty spaces just to wait til you get to the next piece of actually meaningful content. By the time you get the capital, the game has already outwore its welcome but surprisingly enough theres still another third of it left after that point. Elden Ring is a pretty good game that is just completely undone by its sheer size and terrible pacing

TOTK is proof that bigger isnt always better. As much as I enjoyed the game, there certainly is a lot of unnecessary bloat in it. Like pretty much the entirety of the underground. Its just content for contents sake, the depths is a baren wasteland. There are no side quests or NPCs outside of generic Yiga to be found, the entire thing feels procedurally generated.

Also tasks that were once simple in BOTW are now needlessly tedious in TOTK. It was bad enough that your weapons broke before but now that you have to constantly fuse them together only exacerbates this problem. Building various vehicles to traverse the environment and solve puzzles is fun for the first 20 or so hours but by the end it just becomes tiresome.

People say that BOTW was a "demo" for TOTK like thats somehow a good thing. But BOTW was already arguably too big to begin with. If anything a sequel to BOTW should have had a smaller, and denser map. Not a larger and more baren one. For me BOTW is the better game because it feels more focused, TOTK just got too carried away with itself. Less is more in this instance

@OctolingKing13 If totk is a direct sequel then how come none of the NPCs remember who Link is? 🤔🤔

@OctolingKing13 That's just what they want you to think

Zelda Tears of the Kingdom has got to be the best Nintendo remake. Very bold of them to remake Breath of the Wild on the same hardware as the original. But I guess that's just Nintendo for you

For me my top 5 Switch games of the year are

1. Tears of the Kingdom
2. Blasphemous 2
3. Metroid Prime
4. Mario Wonder
5. Disney Illusion Island

I know Zelda is a boring pick for number 1, but its just simply the best game that came out on switch this year. It is what it is. But I do want to give a strong shoutout to Blasphemous 2 though. Its a fairly close second and easily my favorite indie game of the year. If you haven't played it yet you should absolutely give it a shot

I feel like they made this artwork under the assumption TotK would probably win game of the year and when it didn't they just slapped "best action/adventure" on it instead

As someone who enjoyed World over Rise (although I enjoyed both) I am beyond excited for this. I think mechanics like wirebugs and silkbind attacks took away from the thoughtful, and deliberate core of Monster Hunter. Hopefully Wilds gets back to the heart of MH while introducing fun and new mechanics that make sense with the series roots

@Tyranexx I think he actually meant BOTW 1.5

@Bahamut_GR I'm glad I'm not the only one that found the game to be incredibly dull. The combat was fun for the first few hours but it got kinda stale. Constantly breaking the enemies 'locks' quickly grew into a tiresome chore

Not only is Banjo and Kazooie the best smash reveal, but its also one of the best gaming reveals period. I'm not one to jump up and start screaming like a lunatic over a video game trailer but the B&K reveal did just that. The only way they could top it is if they somehow added Conker as well

You mean to tell me that charging $60 for a mediocre 2D Sonic game with abhorrent boss fights didn't make copies fly off the shelves?

Color me shocked

@Vortexeo You know I completely forgot about Metroid Dread lol. I guess its not unprecedented afterall then

Wow I can't believe Mario Wonder is actually in the running. Nothing at all against the game, but it's just crazy to see a 2D platfomer of all things go toe to toe against titans like BG3 and Zelda. What a lineup

@IceClimbers Are you their spokesperson or something? They said "Good. TotK doesn’t deserve any GOTY award." In reference to TotK losing to Baldur's Gate 3. Sounds like it might have something to do with BG3 otherwise the comment in question wouldn't at all exist.

Thanks for gatekeeping the comments section though

@Yoshif3 I get preferring Baldur's Gate to Zelda. But to say Zelda doesn't deserve it? Thats quite a stretch. I've played close to 30 new releases this year, and I'd say only maybe a couple were better or even on par with Tears of the Kingdom. If Tears had won over BG3 it would have been justified in my book, despite me not having a preference one way or the other

I really just despise this notion of "there's only one possible game that deserves Game of the Year". Chances are that if a game got far enough along in the process to be nominated then it more than likely deserved it. Even if it ultimately doesn't end up winning

I'm currently on world 5 and I gotta say, I just can't help but find it funny that so many people were so insistent in the lead up to release that this wasn't going to be yet another New Super Mario Bros. lol. That Wonder was somehow going to be a completely different game. And while it is largely the same, I do have to say that this is definitely the best New Super Mario Bros. game that I've played. While the artsyle may be similar, the characters and objects inhabiting the world are much more expressive. Making the game feel less "sterile". And the wonderflower, while not groundbreaking, does add a certain level of flavor to the game that the traditional "New" series was lacking

It may not be the bold new direction for 2D Mario that many were hoping for, but its still a fun step in the right direction nonetheless

Am I reading this right? A new 2D Mario just dropped and Nintendolife didn't give it an automatic 10/10?

Either there's a glitch in the system or Nintendolife hired some new staff 😅

I mean, I don't really care one way or the other. Its a facial expression on a boxart for crying out loud. But if I had to pick one, I'd probably go with the new one, and this is coming from someone that hated Peach's portrayal in the Mario movie. And I'm not even a "girlboss hater" I like girlbosses in the right context. But they cranked that sh*t up to 11 and it was almost like a parody of itself. It was my only real gripe with the movie, I liked it a lot otherwise. But anyway, I think this new face is fine. She looks way less like a blowup doll as many others have pointed out

"Nintendo gives Princess Peach a new facial"

Nice

Laaaaaaaaaame.

This explanation feels like such an afterthought lol. I find it very doubtful it was planned from the beginning. I mean this is practically one step removed from "It was all just a dream" as far as narrative copouts go

Practically any video game can be spoiled. Just because a game doesn't have a
proper story doesn't mean it can't be spoiled. I'm sure Elden Ring players wouldn't want the underground spoiled for them despite that not necessarily being a big story moment. It's about the discovery. And to imply that the discovery doesn't matter is quite simply a braindead take

@GrailUK That is a horrible argument. Just because many considered RDR to be a masterpiece in 2010 doesn't mean they then also have to think it's worth $50 today. What kind of logic is that. If all games were charged based soley on their quality then they'd literally never go down in price. So games like Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 4, and Bioshock would never depreciate in value no matter how much time has passed. Now I'm sure Rockstar and other corporations probably love this train of thought but as a consumer quite frankly I find it disgusting

Metroid Prime 4 would make for a horrible launch title...Metroid is niche at best.

You gotta launch with something that'll move units. Something like a new 3D Mario or a 3D Zelda. And seeing as Tears of the Kingdom just released a few short months ago that only really leaves but one option.

I think a new 3D Mario is an absolute no-brainer for a launch title. Save Metroid Prime for a release drought

@solarwolf07 Well, the artstyle for one

11 years later and Nintendo really just brought back New Super Mario Bros. but now for the Switch. Smh

That new 3D plaformer from the Sonic Mania team looks intriguing but other than that this direct was pretty much a snoozefest.

It's hard for me to get too excited about a new 2D Mario these days, especially when its been way too long since we've got a proper 3D one. The idea of a Princess Peach game sounds interesting but unfortunaly they didn't really give us much to go on. I don't know how I'm supposed to be excited for something that I didn't really see. And yeah I mean other than that there wasn't really much that spoke to me. It's starting to feel like the Switch is finally winding down

Idk, I'm kind of glad they just got this one out of the way. Sparks of Hope was no where near as good as Kingdom Battle if you ask me. The removal of the grid based movement and the overall lack of difficulty made this game feel far less tactical than the first one. Which you know, is kind of the entire point of a tactics game. If I had waited any longer for this sequel it would have gone from being a minor disappointment into a massive one

I haven't finished it yet, as I've only completed 2 of the main story dungeons. And while I am enjoying my time with it thus far I do have to say I have surprisingly mixed feelings about TotK. I think the game just feels too "samey" to me

I find myself doing all of the same things I was doing in Breath of the Wild back in 2017. Completing shrines, collecting spirit orbs (now light orbs), collecting korok seeds,exploring towers to reveal portions of the map, clearing out bandit camps. Idk. It's lacking that same "wow" factor I had playing BotW for the first time. A lot of it just feels like going through the motions.

And while the sky islands are certainly a nice addition, I do find that, combined with the rest of the map, it all to be a tad bit overwhelming. Overwhelming in a way that BotW didn't feel. A lot of TotK feels like an exercise in tedium. Things that were simple in BotW now take longer or have extra steps. Now I have to build something. Now I have to combine my weapons together. Now I have to find a musician just so I can unlock this Great Fairy. I just want to upgrade my armor, let me upgrade my armor game!

So you wouldn't consider reusing the same map as BOTW as a con then? @AlanaHagues

@Wheatly Very true. But if we're being honest most of us working under the term "tradtional Zelda" probably haven't played the NES original. When most think of traditional Zelda, they likely think of games like A Link to the Past or Ocarina of Time

I like Breath of the Wild because it's not a traditional Zelda game. It shook up the series formula when it needed it the most. There will always be those that want the series to "return to its roots" but I'd argue those are the same people holding it back. The series can't grow if it's restrained by preconcieved notions of what a Zelda game is

Already own all of them in physical format. If anyone is on the fence about getting any of these I would at least recommend purchasing 3U on the Wii U, before it's too late. Going back to play some of the older MH titles can be a bit of a chore, especially on the 3DS with its murky graphics and awkward controls. On the Wii U however, 3U still looks and plays great. Sure, its a Wii game, but its got a fantastic art direction and runs at 1080p. It's an absolute must play for any MH fan

I'm willing to go against the grain here and say that I absolutely adored my time with Trek to Yomi. It's not often we get indie games with AAA production value. This game is just oozing in both style and atmosphere. And while the combat may be simple, the game didn't exactly stay around long enough for me to grow tired of it either. Plus some of my favorite games of all time have fairly simple controls. It may not be an absolute must play title but for $20 you really can't go wrong with Trek to Yomi

Does Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak count? Because if it does then it's definitely that. Sunbreak is some of the most fun I've had playing a game this year alongside God of War and Elden Ring

Ok good so the fanboys no longer have to pretend like Rise is superior to World now that it's no longer exclusive to their preferred platform. We can all just enjoy both

@somnambulance If the game got 2/10's and 9/10's from multiple different publications wouldn't that make it by your own admission not "mixed across the board" then? Mixed across the board would be reviews ranging anywhere from a 5 out of 10 to a 7 out of 10. That's generally what's agreed upon as "mixed" from what I understand

"Sonic Frontiers was released earlier this week to mixed reviews across the board"

Isn't Frontiers one of the best reviewed 3D Sonics in recent memory? I'm sensing some projection from the writer

At this point I just want a new 3D Mario in general man.

But if I were to be picky, I'd like Odyssey's mechanics in a game that isn't Odyssey. Mario's kit was great in that game, but the level design was really quite lackluster. Rarely did the levels demand you fully utilize that kit. It felt like such wasted potential to give Mario this amazing moveset in a game that doesn't take proper advantage of it. They leaned in too hard on the capture mechanic IMO and not enough on Mario's actual moveset.

So TLDR: I want the next Mario game to be more designed around Mario's core kit and be less focused on gimmicky mechanics like cappy. Oh and less collectibles. Odyssey had far too many collectibles. Let's hope they go for a "less is more" design philosophy

Star Fox Adventures. This game got a really bad wrap, it's a great Zelda-like and it's unfortunate that people just can't seem to get past the fact that it's not a traditional Star Fox game and judge it on its own

I completely agree the EMMIs were super annoying, more frustrating than fun. Knocked the game from a 9/10 to an 8/10 for me