I wanted to flag the questionable usage of 'The House of Pikachu' as a second mention for The Pokémon Company in the article, though. The original phrase, 'The House of Mouse' for Disney, is a bit cringe-inducing, but it works because it rhymes. 'The House of Mario' for Nintendo is already pushing the formula to its limits, relying on the phonetic similarity between 'Mouse' and 'Mario', so this latest innovation doesn't fly with me. The only point of relevance here is that Pikachu is a mouse-like creature. Let's hope it doesn't catch on...
SoulCalibur II is the only fighting game I've spent a significant amount of time with, and to be honest, it's so good that I have never really felt the need to play any other.
The review does a great job of highlighting the many wonderful aspects of this game. I wanted to add a couple of things that aren't mentioned. First, the opening cutscene, which was jaw-droppingly gorgeous back in the 2000s and still looks superb to this day. Second, the epic soundtrack that incorporates a lot of instruments from throughout the world, which really helps nail the continent-spanning medieval setting of the story. The reviewer talked about the self-important, pompous presentation, which can be epitomised by the character selection screen music, 'History Unfolds', which is only a 20-second loop, but as its name suggests, is grandiose, bombastic and really establishes the mood before you start a fight.
To add to the discourse above, a real draw for the Switch 2 release will be online multiplayer. If and when we all get Switch 2s, my friends and I will certainly be firing this up in our online multiplayer sessions to relive those happy days of yore.
I've always thought Mario Kart 7 has the least memorable soundtrack in the series, but now that it's on Nintendo Music, I'm sure I'll be able to appreciate it more.
@bring_on_branstons Same here. People who haven't played F-Zero GX before should know that the story mode gets very difficult as of the second mission!
I'd like to try this series but I'm concerned about their lengthy run times. According to data on the HowLongToBeat website, the original game 'only' takes an average of 57 hours to reach the credits, while the sequels take 62-68 hours. If you want to do side-quests and other gubbins, that number goes into triple figures for each game.
The only Lord of the Rings game I've played is The Fellowship of the Ring on the Game Boy Advance, which is a turn-based RPG.
The only interesting point about it is that it follows the story of the novel rather than the film, so Tom Bombadil is present and correct.
Everything else about it is terrible. Enemies are visible on the overworld rather than as random encounters, but the main issue is that most battles yield no rewards, so there's no point in actually fighting enemies other than removing them from your path. Characters' accuracy is really low, so battles drag on as you wait for each member of your party to walk up to an enemy, miss the target with his sword and walk back. About the last third of the game is spent in the Mines of Moria, where you walk around collecting runes to unlock doors, which clog up your characters' bags (which are all separate), preventing you from picking up weapons and healing items.
You don't actually get to fight the cool enemies like the Ringwraiths and the Balrog because the game largely takes place from Frodo's perspective and he doesn't fight them in the novel (Lurtz is absent for the same reason). The final 'boss' is a handful of goblins with ridiculously high evasion in order to make these otherwise-mundane battles artificially difficult. The best way to beat them is with limited-use magic staves, so hopefully you remembered not to use them beforehand and put them in Frodo and Sam's bags before you left the mines, otherwise they're gone with the rest of the departed party!
Easily one of the worst games I own and have ever played (and completed!).
At the time of writing, Mario vs. Donkey Kong's user score is 7.3 and Princess Peach: Showtime!'s user score is 7.1. The title currently at number 50 on this list has a user score of 7.4. Those who want to see either of the two games above on the list need to increase their personal scores of these games or wait for more like-minded people to rate them!
@Real_Obsi I was hoping for a comment like this! When I first saw the article, I thought it was going to be a game about making funny mash-up videos of The Apprentice and political speeches.
Given the expansion of gaming and the popularity of other genres such as battle royales in recent years, is the Call of Duty series really relevant anymore, even among 'casual' players?
For anyone else wondering what 'blazon' means (and sounds like - it rhymes with 'raisin'), it refers to a coat of arms or a description thereof. It can also be used figuratively for an ostentatious display. I had to look it up after seeing the Japanese title.
@Axecon That may be so in the US, but Tears of the Kingdom launched at £60 RRP in the UK (the same 'premium' price as Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), and can now be bought for £45 at a certain well-known online retailer.
EDIT: Tears of the Kingdom is indeed on the chart at number 19.
I think the review is fair. I played Golden Sun for the first time in about 2012. The only song I can remember off the top of my head is the normal battle theme, which the reviewer said was great!
Admittedly I stopped playing the game around the section where you had to rescue Hammet. Is that about half-way through? It just became a bit of a slog. I would like to return to it, though, especially as so many people love it - maybe things improve in the second half?
@Not_Soos Very nice pun - well played! However, it only works in American English, where 'van Gogh' is pronounced as 'van Go'! In British English, it's pronounced 'van Goff'. This is supposed to approximate the original Dutch, where both the <g> and the <gh> in 'van Gogh' are produced as velar or uvular fricatives (guttural sounds produced at the back of the throat), which don't appear in most dialects of English.
Good to hear that some of the old Cing staff are still making adventure games. I'm always wary of media that use Nazi themes, as the potential for disrespect or offence is huge, but hopefully this material will be handled sensitively here.
By the way, Trace Memory = Another Code: Two Memories for any confused PAL gamers.
For me, the price of a game shouldn't count towards its numeric score, although of course it can and should be discussed in the review. This is because the price will always vary, whereas the content of the game won't (patches and DLC notwithstanding). I seem to remember Nintendo Life stating this as policy some years ago, but I might be imagining it. It's hard to tell whether this has been implemented here for Red Dead Redemption or not.
@WaveBoy Hey granddad, haven't you noticed that kids these days are wearing baggy jeans, just like in the late 90s and early 2000s? Skinny jeans are, like, sooooo 2012. Get with the times, man!
In all seriousness, I love pop culture from the era you're talking about too, especially the music.
For 10-year-old me, spring 2003 was all about the anticipation of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire coming out in July. I think this was the first time I was truly excited about an upcoming game. The hype was increased by the fact my local game shop somehow had a GameCube and Game Boy Player hooked up with a copy - simply choosing my starter and battling Poochyena was enough to seriously whet my appetite (those graphics - how much better they were than Gold and Silver!). Of course, the games had been out for ages in Japan and North America already, but my naïve childhood self only looked at the official European Pokémon website, with just a handful of creatures revealed, rather than simply doing a Google search to find everything out about the games beforehand.
This was all the better, of course, as it meant everything was a genuine surprise when I eventually got my hands on my own Sapphire cartridge and discovered the beautiful region of Hoenn. For me this was the last time that Pokémon had a genuine, proper, sense of mystery and wonder. I remember saying 'What on earth is that?' out loud to myself the first time I encountered an Electrike. I actually shivered with anticipation upon setting foot in the Sealed Chamber with its dramatic music and Braille-covered walls.
After a few generations of devotedly checking fan sites like Serebii, Bulbapedia, PKMN.net and PsyPokes (anyone remember the latter two?) after a Japanese release, practically deciding what my team would be months before the games were even out in the UK, I've now tried to recapture the magic of my youth by avoiding any info outside official trailers when a new Pokémon title comes out. Nothing, however, will be like the good old days of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
This is a great feature, Nintendo Life! I, too, have fond memories of the letters pages from NOM and ONM, and that wonderfully British sense of humour the old games mags had. Will readers' letters be accompanied by an editor's response sarcastically ribbing the letter-writer just like back in the day?
To 'go hard', 'slap' or be 'a bop'... I can't say I'm a fan of these slang terms, especially when they appear unironically in journalistic media. Crucially, I have only ever seen them before in YouTube comment sections, and never from the lips of a real-life speaker of English, so can we please stick to words and phrases that people actually use in normal conversation and news articles?
That aside, the concept of surprisingly intense music in a game is an interesting one and there are some very nice selections here, though there does seem to be some overlap in the article with songs that are popular or particularly catchy.
The two main issues with these covers for me are that John Morris looks like an ogre on the North American one, while Eric Lecarde looks like a woman on the European and Japanese ones.
I'd love to hear from someone who lives in Japan about why the Japanese love Splatoon so much. With other mega-successful series like Pokémon and Dragon Quest, you can kind of understand the games' popularity as they have been around for a long time and offer a sense of comforting familiarity to gamers of different ages and backgrounds. Splatoon, however, originated on the Wii U not very long ago and it's quite innovative in various ways, so it's a bit atypical compared to its peers.
If anyone's interested, this week Atlus are running a sale on some of their 3DS titles, including the Etrian Odyssey games and some of the Shin Megami Tensei spin-offs.
I'm not familiar with the Metal Gear series but I enjoyed the comedy dialogue in the article. It took me back to the good old days of Nintendo Official Magazine, when this kind of thing would appear on a monthly basis and regularly have me laughing out loud. I still remember some of the features and gags to this day.
As others have said, Pokémon games have never really been about thrilling stories, and of course they need to be appealing to all ages, but as a player you do need some kind of plot to keep you going. What frustrates me about the series is that ever since Ruby and Sapphire, the main narrative climax has boiled down to the villain awakening the legendary Pokémon in the box art in order to destroy the world. This plot, or a variant of it, appears in literally every main series title (excluding remakes) from Generation 3 onwards, as well as the majority of the anime films, so as a player / viewer, each new entry just feels incredibly predictable and derivative.
Despite the simpler gameplay and 'shallower' characters, I actually find Generations 1 and 2 extremely refreshing to play after spending a while in later games. No annoying dialogue, no lengthy cutscenes, no compulsory battle with the box-art legendary to break the flow of the principal quests to become the Champion and complete the Pokédex.
This raises an interesting question about Scarlet and Violet. The trailers we've seen so far suggest that you get the main legendary fairly early on in order to use it to traverse the world. If this is the case, does that mean there won't be an obligatory 'epic final battle with the legendary to save the world', and therefore perhaps a slightly more interesting, unobtrusive and original story? I for one hope so.
Interestingly, the box art used on Nintendo Life's game page for The Wind Waker seems to be a variant of the western cover but it's yellow instead of gold. Any idea where that one is from?
@tanaka2687 I was just thinking along the same lines. A Comic Sans-esque font in italics and block capitals isn't going to be easy on the eyes when reading hundreds of lines of dialogue. Everything else looks pretty good, though.
I got Donkey Konga 2 as a free gift for subscribing to Nintendo Official Magazine (RIP). It was a choice between that game, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Pikmin 2. Suffice to say I regret my decision.
I don't think the use of 'Nintendo' as a generic term for a video game console was ever widespread in the UK. From what I understand, the US industry crash of 1983 didn't happen here and Nintendo never dominated the market like it did in the US after the crash.
Also, I'd disagree that 'Nintendo' is an adjective in cases like 'Nintendo games'. Rather, it is a proper noun that is being used attributively to modify another noun.
No one's mentioned how Mario Party Superstars has been sitting pretty in the top 10 for a few weeks now. It's great to see that this game, which by all accounts is a return to form for the series, is doing well.
Come on, Nintendo Life! In my opinion, as a British Nintendo website, you should be flying the flag for the UK in the gaming world, not acting with the awkward bemusement shown in this article!
I think it's brilliant that the diverse linguistic variation found in my home country is shown off in such a highly rated series, especially one localised from Japanese with a strong anime style. Seeing as so many anime and Japanese games are localised using American English, with many characters from different series sounding eerily similar, hearing British voices and language is a breath of fresh air, and serves as a reminder that other English varieties exist outside the small pool that are typically used for dubbing video games and anime.
This may sound a bit over the top, but when I first heard the British accents in Xenoblade Chronicles, I was grinning from ear to ear because it felt like accents from my country were finally being represented in video games beyond stereotypical roles like the sophisticated villain (RP) and the lovable rogue (occasional Cockney). I realise that people with British accents are hardly a minority in the same sense as other minority groups in western society, but the sense of joy I got from hearing speech like mine in a major Nintendo game was as much to do with representation as it was simply enjoying it for the sake of it.
What I would really like is to see more Nintendo games localised into British English for their PAL releases. Nintendo is very inconsistent at this (compare the inclusion of 'football' in the title of the new Mario Strikers game to the American spelling of 'colo(u)r' in the Wii U Paper Mario title), while some developers, such as The Pokémon Company / GameFreak, act as if British English doesn't exist (beyond a few token changes for Galar in Sword and Shield). It would be nice if Nintendo Life also used PAL game titles and GBP by default on the website to reflect their origins rather than the NA ones and USD; presumably this is for search engine optimisation and to attract clicks.
Some people might think I'm being parochial, but I just like to see my home country well represented in gaming!
Comments 170
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z-A Secures Switch & Switch 2 Release Date
Great news to get a release date for this game.
I wanted to flag the questionable usage of 'The House of Pikachu' as a second mention for The Pokémon Company in the article, though. The original phrase, 'The House of Mouse' for Disney, is a bit cringe-inducing, but it works because it rhymes. 'The House of Mario' for Nintendo is already pushing the formula to its limits, relying on the phonetic similarity between 'Mouse' and 'Mario', so this latest innovation doesn't fly with me. The only point of relevance here is that Pikachu is a mouse-like creature. Let's hope it doesn't catch on...
Re: Review: SoulCalibur II (GameCube) - One Of The Best Fighters Ever, Playable Oh-So-Soon On Switch 2
SoulCalibur II is the only fighting game I've spent a significant amount of time with, and to be honest, it's so good that I have never really felt the need to play any other.
The review does a great job of highlighting the many wonderful aspects of this game. I wanted to add a couple of things that aren't mentioned. First, the opening cutscene, which was jaw-droppingly gorgeous back in the 2000s and still looks superb to this day. Second, the epic soundtrack that incorporates a lot of instruments from throughout the world, which really helps nail the continent-spanning medieval setting of the story. The reviewer talked about the self-important, pompous presentation, which can be epitomised by the character selection screen music, 'History Unfolds', which is only a 20-second loop, but as its name suggests, is grandiose, bombastic and really establishes the mood before you start a fight.
To add to the discourse above, a real draw for the Switch 2 release will be online multiplayer. If and when we all get Switch 2s, my friends and I will certainly be firing this up in our online multiplayer sessions to relive those happy days of yore.
Re: Review: 1000xRESIST (Switch) - A Sci-Fi Narrative Masterpiece, Hair To Hair
The game sounds good, but it's a shame to see another ungrammatical, unpronounceable title. It is supposed to be said as 'a thousand times resist'?
Re: Mario Kart's 3DS Album Races Onto Nintendo Music, Here's Every Song Included
I've always thought Mario Kart 7 has the least memorable soundtrack in the series, but now that it's on Nintendo Music, I'm sure I'll be able to appreciate it more.
Re: Video: Nintendo Shares More Footage Of F-Zero GX For Switch Online
@bring_on_branstons Same here. People who haven't played F-Zero GX before should know that the story mode gets very difficult as of the second mission!
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Mario's Picross
For anyone interested, the text in the much-maligned blue box on the German cover, 'Das Knifflige Bilder-Rätsel!', means 'The tricky picture puzzle!'
Re: Best Xenoblade Chronicles Games Of All Time
I'd like to try this series but I'm concerned about their lengthy run times. According to data on the HowLongToBeat website, the original game 'only' takes an average of 57 hours to reach the credits, while the sequels take 62-68 hours. If you want to do side-quests and other gubbins, that number goes into triple figures for each game.
Re: Poll: Are There Any Good Lord Of The Rings Games On Nintendo Consoles?
The only Lord of the Rings game I've played is The Fellowship of the Ring on the Game Boy Advance, which is a turn-based RPG.
The only interesting point about it is that it follows the story of the novel rather than the film, so Tom Bombadil is present and correct.
Everything else about it is terrible. Enemies are visible on the overworld rather than as random encounters, but the main issue is that most battles yield no rewards, so there's no point in actually fighting enemies other than removing them from your path. Characters' accuracy is really low, so battles drag on as you wait for each member of your party to walk up to an enemy, miss the target with his sword and walk back. About the last third of the game is spent in the Mines of Moria, where you walk around collecting runes to unlock doors, which clog up your characters' bags (which are all separate), preventing you from picking up weapons and healing items.
You don't actually get to fight the cool enemies like the Ringwraiths and the Balrog because the game largely takes place from Frodo's perspective and he doesn't fight them in the novel (Lurtz is absent for the same reason). The final 'boss' is a handful of goblins with ridiculously high evasion in order to make these otherwise-mundane battles artificially difficult. The best way to beat them is with limited-use magic staves, so hopefully you remembered not to use them beforehand and put them in Frodo and Sam's bags before you left the mines, otherwise they're gone with the rest of the departed party!
Easily one of the worst games I own and have ever played (and completed!).
Re: Best Nintendo Switch Games Of 2024
At the time of writing, Mario vs. Donkey Kong's user score is 7.3 and Princess Peach: Showtime!'s user score is 7.1. The title currently at number 50 on this list has a user score of 7.4. Those who want to see either of the two games above on the list need to increase their personal scores of these games or wait for more like-minded people to rate them!
Re: A Bunch Of Nascar Games Will Soon Be Delisted From The Switch eShop
'Naffcar' - brilliant sub-heading! Of course, you're only saying that the delisting is naff, not the sport itself, I'm sure.
Re: Hands On: Zelda, But With Mind-Bending Perspective Puzzles - We Take 'Cassette Boy' For A Spin
@Real_Obsi I was hoping for a comment like this! When I first saw the article, I thought it was going to be a game about making funny mash-up videos of The Apprentice and political speeches.
Re: Activision Officially Announces Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6
Given the expansion of gaming and the popularity of other genres such as battle royales in recent years, is the Call of Duty series really relevant anymore, even among 'casual' players?
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Duel: Demon's Crest (SNES)
For anyone else wondering what 'blazon' means (and sounds like - it rhymes with 'raisin'), it refers to a coat of arms or a description thereof. It can also be used figuratively for an ostentatious display. I had to look it up after seeing the Japanese title.
Re: UK Charts: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Speeds Into Pole Position, Once Again
@Axecon That may be so in the US, but Tears of the Kingdom launched at £60 RRP in the UK (the same 'premium' price as Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), and can now be bought for £45 at a certain well-known online retailer.
EDIT: Tears of the Kingdom is indeed on the chart at number 19.
Re: Review: Golden Sun - A Radiant RPG, Once It Gets Going
I think the review is fair. I played Golden Sun for the first time in about 2012. The only song I can remember off the top of my head is the normal battle theme, which the reviewer said was great!
Admittedly I stopped playing the game around the section where you had to rescue Hammet. Is that about half-way through? It just became a bit of a slog. I would like to return to it, though, especially as so many people love it - maybe things improve in the second half?
Re: Review: Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure Of Dai - A Dismal Adaptation Of An Excellent Anime
What is an 'Infinity Strash'? Or just a 'strash' for that matter?
Re: Pokémon X Van Gogh Museum Merch Is Already Seeing Expensive Online Resales
@Not_Soos Very nice pun - well played! However, it only works in American English, where 'van Gogh' is pronounced as 'van Go'! In British English, it's pronounced 'van Goff'. This is supposed to approximate the original Dutch, where both the <g> and the <gh> in 'van Gogh' are produced as velar or uvular fricatives (guttural sounds produced at the back of the throat), which don't appear in most dialects of English.
Re: Trace Memory, Hotel Dusk Writer's New Adventure Game Blows Past Crowd-Funding Goal
Good to hear that some of the old Cing staff are still making adventure games. I'm always wary of media that use Nazi themes, as the potential for disrespect or offence is huge, but hopefully this material will be handled sensitively here.
By the way, Trace Memory = Another Code: Two Memories for any confused PAL gamers.
Re: Review: Red Dead Redemption - A Fine But No-Frills Switch Port, For A Fistful Of Dollars
For me, the price of a game shouldn't count towards its numeric score, although of course it can and should be discussed in the review. This is because the price will always vary, whereas the content of the game won't (patches and DLC notwithstanding). I seem to remember Nintendo Life stating this as policy some years ago, but I might be imagining it. It's hard to tell whether this has been implemented here for Red Dead Redemption or not.
Re: Prison City, The 'Most Early '90s Game Ever', Is Coming To The Switch
@WaveBoy Hey granddad, haven't you noticed that kids these days are wearing baggy jeans, just like in the late 90s and early 2000s? Skinny jeans are, like, sooooo 2012. Get with the times, man!
In all seriousness, I love pop culture from the era you're talking about too, especially the music.
Re: Feature: How Summer Holidays And Childhood Nostalgia Revolutionised Pokémon
For 10-year-old me, spring 2003 was all about the anticipation of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire coming out in July. I think this was the first time I was truly excited about an upcoming game. The hype was increased by the fact my local game shop somehow had a GameCube and Game Boy Player hooked up with a copy - simply choosing my starter and battling Poochyena was enough to seriously whet my appetite (those graphics - how much better they were than Gold and Silver!). Of course, the games had been out for ages in Japan and North America already, but my naïve childhood self only looked at the official European Pokémon website, with just a handful of creatures revealed, rather than simply doing a Google search to find everything out about the games beforehand.
This was all the better, of course, as it meant everything was a genuine surprise when I eventually got my hands on my own Sapphire cartridge and discovered the beautiful region of Hoenn. For me this was the last time that Pokémon had a genuine, proper, sense of mystery and wonder. I remember saying 'What on earth is that?' out loud to myself the first time I encountered an Electrike. I actually shivered with anticipation upon setting foot in the Sealed Chamber with its dramatic music and Braille-covered walls.
After a few generations of devotedly checking fan sites like Serebii, Bulbapedia, PKMN.net and PsyPokes (anyone remember the latter two?) after a Japanese release, practically deciding what my team would be months before the games were even out in the UK, I've now tried to recapture the magic of my youth by avoiding any info outside official trailers when a new Pokémon title comes out. Nothing, however, will be like the good old days of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire.
Re: New Limited-Time Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Distribution Announced
You can also get two TMs with the code 'PLAYD0UBLE' until 30th June.
Re: Site News: Miss The Letters Page In Game Mags? So Do We!
This is a great feature, Nintendo Life! I, too, have fond memories of the letters pages from NOM and ONM, and that wonderfully British sense of humour the old games mags had. Will readers' letters be accompanied by an editor's response sarcastically ribbing the letter-writer just like back in the day?
Re: Capcom 3DS & Wii U Games Available For Just $2.99 In Final eShop Sale (US)
@jrpacman That one is for the Switch - the original trilogy plus the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles.
Re: Shantae Goes Half Price In WayForward's 'Last Chance' 3DS And Wii U eShop Sale
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but only the Mighty Switch Force games aren't also available on the Switch (ironically).
Re: Review: Ten Dates - A Surprise Second Date Where More Is Better
Love the sub-heading here. A real throw-back.
'You chose... Number 1, and that's our Ollie from Stoke! Come in, Ollie!'
Re: Feature: Video Game Music That Didn't Need To Go That Hard
To 'go hard', 'slap' or be 'a bop'... I can't say I'm a fan of these slang terms, especially when they appear unironically in journalistic media. Crucially, I have only ever seen them before in YouTube comment sections, and never from the lips of a real-life speaker of English, so can we please stick to words and phrases that people actually use in normal conversation and news articles?
That aside, the concept of surprisingly intense music in a game is an interesting one and there are some very nice selections here, though there does seem to be some overlap in the article with songs that are popular or particularly catchy.
Re: UK Charts: Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Reunion Makes Its Top Ten Debut
@dew12333 FIFA is number 1. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/fifa-is-christmas-no1-as-god-of-war-drops-to-third-place-uk-boxed-charts
Re: UK Charts: Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII - Reunion Makes Its Top Ten Debut
Typo: FIFA 23 is listed twice in the table. One of them should read 'God of War Ragnarök'.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Castlevania: Bloodlines
The two main issues with these covers for me are that John Morris looks like an ogre on the North American one, while Eric Lecarde looks like a woman on the European and Japanese ones.
Re: Japanese Charts: Splatoon 3 Physical Sales Splatter All Over The Competition
I'd love to hear from someone who lives in Japan about why the Japanese love Splatoon so much. With other mega-successful series like Pokémon and Dragon Quest, you can kind of understand the games' popularity as they have been around for a long time and offer a sense of comforting familiarity to gamers of different ages and backgrounds. Splatoon, however, originated on the Wii U not very long ago and it's quite innovative in various ways, so it's a bit atypical compared to its peers.
Re: Nintendo Download: 8th September (Europe)
If anyone's interested, this week Atlus are running a sale on some of their 3DS titles, including the Etrian Odyssey games and some of the Shin Megami Tensei spin-offs.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl - Metal Gear: Ghost Babel
I'm not familiar with the Metal Gear series but I enjoyed the comedy dialogue in the article. It took me back to the good old days of Nintendo Official Magazine, when this kind of thing would appear on a monthly basis and regularly have me laughing out loud. I still remember some of the features and gags to this day.
Re: Mini Review: LEGO Brawls - Disappointly Basic Brick Battles That Stutter On Switch
Typo in the headline: 'disappointly' should read 'disappointingly'.
Re: Feature: Every Pokémon Game Narrative, Ranked From Best To Worst
As others have said, Pokémon games have never really been about thrilling stories, and of course they need to be appealing to all ages, but as a player you do need some kind of plot to keep you going. What frustrates me about the series is that ever since Ruby and Sapphire, the main narrative climax has boiled down to the villain awakening the legendary Pokémon in the box art in order to destroy the world. This plot, or a variant of it, appears in literally every main series title (excluding remakes) from Generation 3 onwards, as well as the majority of the anime films, so as a player / viewer, each new entry just feels incredibly predictable and derivative.
Despite the simpler gameplay and 'shallower' characters, I actually find Generations 1 and 2 extremely refreshing to play after spending a while in later games. No annoying dialogue, no lengthy cutscenes, no compulsory battle with the box-art legendary to break the flow of the principal quests to become the Champion and complete the Pokédex.
This raises an interesting question about Scarlet and Violet. The trailers we've seen so far suggest that you get the main legendary fairly early on in order to use it to traverse the world. If this is the case, does that mean there won't be an obligatory 'epic final battle with the legendary to save the world', and therefore perhaps a slightly more interesting, unobtrusive and original story? I for one hope so.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Interestingly, the box art used on Nintendo Life's game page for The Wind Waker seems to be a variant of the western cover but it's yellow instead of gold. Any idea where that one is from?
Re: Review: Two Point Campus - A Beautifully Balanced Sim That's More 'Friend' Than 'Fiscal'
It sounds like some university vice-chancellors ought to play this game so that they learn that making money is not the main goal of a university...
Re: Adventure Game 'Calme' Reminds Us Of Ni No Kuni And Octopath Traveler
The art style looks like it's been taken straight from Bravely Default. The main character even looks like Tiz!
Re: It's Official, Tactics Ogre: Reborn Is Coming To Switch
@tanaka2687 I was just thinking along the same lines. A Comic Sans-esque font in italics and block capitals isn't going to be easy on the eyes when reading hundreds of lines of dialogue. Everything else looks pretty good, though.
Re: Poll: What Order Should You Play Live A Live In? And Does It Even Matter?
@theberrage Don't worry, Nintendo Life has you covered with a poll-cum-article on this very issue as well!
https://www.nintendolife.com/features/poll-so-how-do-you-pronounce-live-a-live
Re: Mini Metro Developer Responds To Knock-Off Release On Switch eShop
"They've rebadged it, you fool!"
Re: Video: What Was Your First Video Game Ever?
Kirby's Dream Land.
Re: Review: The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story - A Campy Murder-Mystery From Square Enix
To those who have played them: what are the best FMV games on the Switch?
Re: Review: Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - Kirby's First Brush With 3D Is Still A Charmer
@Franklin 'Phwoar' is onomatopoeia for the sound that one makes upon seeing someone attractive. An excellent pun from the Nintendo Life team there!
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phwoar
Re: Reggie "Hated" Donkey Konga And Was Worried It Would Hurt The DK Brand
I got Donkey Konga 2 as a free gift for subscribing to Nintendo Official Magazine (RIP). It was a choice between that game, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes or Pikmin 2. Suffice to say I regret my decision.
Re: Round Up: The Internet Celebrates Kirby's 30th Anniversary
Even the BBC were celebrating! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-61240325
Re: Random: Here's Why Nintendo Doesn’t Want You Using The Word "Nintendo" To Describe Video Games
I don't think the use of 'Nintendo' as a generic term for a video game console was ever widespread in the UK. From what I understand, the US industry crash of 1983 didn't happen here and Nintendo never dominated the market like it did in the US after the crash.
Also, I'd disagree that 'Nintendo' is an adjective in cases like 'Nintendo games'. Rather, it is a proper noun that is being used attributively to modify another noun.
Re: 'A Space For The Unbound' Brings Mysteries And Self-Discovery To Switch
A game set in Indonesia? Where is @Anti-Matter?
Re: UK Charts: Horizon Takes Over Top Spot From Pokémon Legends: Arceus
No one's mentioned how Mario Party Superstars has been sitting pretty in the top 10 for a few weeks now. It's great to see that this game, which by all accounts is a return to form for the series, is doing well.
Re: Poll: Do You Have An Issue With Xenoblade Chronicles' Accents?
Come on, Nintendo Life! In my opinion, as a British Nintendo website, you should be flying the flag for the UK in the gaming world, not acting with the awkward bemusement shown in this article!
I think it's brilliant that the diverse linguistic variation found in my home country is shown off in such a highly rated series, especially one localised from Japanese with a strong anime style. Seeing as so many anime and Japanese games are localised using American English, with many characters from different series sounding eerily similar, hearing British voices and language is a breath of fresh air, and serves as a reminder that other English varieties exist outside the small pool that are typically used for dubbing video games and anime.
This may sound a bit over the top, but when I first heard the British accents in Xenoblade Chronicles, I was grinning from ear to ear because it felt like accents from my country were finally being represented in video games beyond stereotypical roles like the sophisticated villain (RP) and the lovable rogue (occasional Cockney). I realise that people with British accents are hardly a minority in the same sense as other minority groups in western society, but the sense of joy I got from hearing speech like mine in a major Nintendo game was as much to do with representation as it was simply enjoying it for the sake of it.
What I would really like is to see more Nintendo games localised into British English for their PAL releases. Nintendo is very inconsistent at this (compare the inclusion of 'football' in the title of the new Mario Strikers game to the American spelling of 'colo(u)r' in the Wii U Paper Mario title), while some developers, such as The Pokémon Company / GameFreak, act as if British English doesn't exist (beyond a few token changes for Galar in Sword and Shield). It would be nice if Nintendo Life also used PAL game titles and GBP by default on the website to reflect their origins rather than the NA ones and USD; presumably this is for search engine optimisation and to attract clicks.
Some people might think I'm being parochial, but I just like to see my home country well represented in gaming!