TotalHenshin

@HammerGalladeBro I feel like what you’re saying would have been true for my experience with PS+ though. Everything was okay until it was a Z-rated game.

I looked through my JPN eShop library and to my surprise, I didn’t have any Z-rated games. I would have thought games like Resident Evil or Fatal Frame would meet that threshold, but they didn’t. They were D or C, surprisingly.

I can say however that I recall attempting to purchase a Japanese Z-rated game on PSN once, and it asked me for a credit card then as well.

It could just be a Sony thing, but that doesn’t seem likely to me. There really are relatively very few Z-games in Japan. Mostly Western-made ones.

@Ralizah I would give you that for FM1, though I don’t think it was basic. Damaging different parts was novel for the time.

FM2 though was made for PS1. It was never on SNES. FM2 just had some really long load times. Nevertheless, I do agree that the base game of FM3 stands well enough on its own that it would not need the QoL tweaks that 1 and 2 needed.

I wonder if it will need a registered credit card as well. I had PS+ for a Japanese PSN profile and while I could get many games through the service, any Z-rated games required a registered credit card on that PSN account. The logic being that only adults can get credit cards. I’m not against proper ratings and these sorts of efforts, but it was bizarre to me to be unable to access a game in a subscription library for a subscription I had paid for.

@Ralizah AFAIK, the problem with these remasters is not the source material as much as it’s just the remaster quality and bugs.

This article should note that you need to go onto the Nintendo website and activate the offer before buying a subscription in order to get the gold points.

This is one that is really served best by the original N64 controller, though I did play through it on Rare Replay and after Rare patched it, it was very playable then as well. Great game for its time (loved as a kid), still has some fun to be had now.

@Tobiaku There’s also Metal Slader Glory, which did get a SFC re-release. Do you enjoy VNs a lot?

@Tobiaku Those are some deep cuts. We also never got Shin Onigashima either, but at least we got both versions of Famicom Tantei Club! 日本語が読めますか？

I’m in the “Not necessary, please don’t do it” camp, but it’s so funny to see on the second question that its split almost exactly evenly between “complete overhaul” and “faithful with slight tweaks.” There’s really no way to bring back a classic while pleasing everyone.

For my money, if a remake HAD to occur, I’d rather a complete overhaul because I still have the 3DS remaster. It’s cool to see a game you love with higher quality textures and models, but if you want to go play that game again… just go play the game again. It hasn’t gone anywhere. I’d personally rather see a new twist on an old saw.

Whoooo!!!!

And may I add

yay.

Good news for those still playing Minecraft. Part of me wants to go back and check it out again. I killed the final boss a decade ago. I imagine the game has changed much since.

It’ll definitely be back up by Christmas, but wow! 6 and a half years in the top 20?! Kudos, MK.

The NA/JP one also has hands touching the title. I like the mysterious faded green touching over the red hands that just… feel wrong.

Waiting for my wife to start her playthrough of SMRPG on the mini-SNES to really go through the Switch version, but I did the intro of the game and I’m not usually one to gawk over graphics, but just seeing the modern level of detail in this beloved game of mine really had me salivating as I played.

Other than that, caught a cold or something, so I may be just laying around playing the likes of Mario + Rabbids: DK DLC or Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 while YT is on in the background or something. Was hoping the US BF eShop sale would go live yesterday, but ‘twasn’t meant to be. 🥺 Not that I really need more games anyway.

@rjejr That’s really interesting to me that JRPGs are to you separate from RPGs! For many here that’s their first exposure to RPGs, so they think that’s what RPGs are. I’m curious to what makes an RPG an RPG to you then, and what separates an RPG from a CRPG or JRPG. I’m asking out of genuine curiosity.

@rjejr Well I would say two things:
1) Next to “action-adventure,” no game genre casts a bigger net than “RPG.” “Strategy RPGs” are a mere subset of that larger umbrella term and have always been considered so since I first started gaming three decades ago.
2) The real issue I believe is that what makes an RPG to you, might not for others. If you want to be a stickler about it, then you should say something isn’t an RPG unless it is either a first-person dungeon crawler or a stat-building single character game, like either of the first two RPGs ever made (Wizardry and Ultima). But that would be silly right?

I think I already made a case for what typical RPG elements the Rabbids games have, and it’s actually quite a few. Are the Rabbids games to me “kid-friendly SRPGs with XCOM-like combat”? Yes, and the main descriptor there to me is SRPG, which is a kind of RPG. Just like ARPGs, CRPGs, and JRPGs are all kinds of RPGs.

@rjejr They are strategy RPGs, as they have leveling, stat increases, skill trees, an array of characters to choose from, etc. I would argue that they have more RPG elements than Super Paper Mario.

On that note, it has its flaws, but SPM is one of the funniest and cleverest games Nintendo has ever made.

The same can be said (to an even greater degree on flaws) for Color Splash. Loathed their actually gameplay part of that game, but loved the world, story, writing. Could have easily been in the top 5 of Mario RPGs.

Anyway,
TTYD
BiS
7 Stars

@Diowine Unless they changed the difficulty of the original, I think you’ll be disappointed. The original game has many wonderful adjectives that you can use to describe it, but “challenging” is not one of them. Still a fun time though! You’ll see.

@anoyonmus Can’t go wrong with either, but I’d say Pirate’s Curse then HGH.

Shantae is always solid. Love to support WayForward whenever I can. When they aren’t making licensed games to keep the lights on, they are one of the most consistent devs in the game.

When that second game (Core Keeper) appeared, I thought, “… Haunted Chocolatier?” Then I realized this might end end up being a Threes/2048 or Magic Survival/Vampire Survivors situation.

To be clear, I hope Core Keeper is good, but it’s really biting off Eric Barone’s style. Still looks pretty good though!!

Looking forward to Death Trick, On Your Tail, Moonstone Island, and Urban Myth Dissolution Centre!

@DonkeyBrainKing I don’t actually like the response they just gave you, but I don’t see the word “free” in their original comment at all. Did they edit their original comment or are you mentally pre-disposed to dampen other people’s satisfaction with a subscription service?

Great to hear! Got it on the wishlist!

I think people here are just unaware of how these lists are made. They invite critics and influencers from around the globe (but mostly America) to come and write a top ten list for their games in these categories while also getting to play many major holiday games before release.

The point being that naturally the blockbusters often make it to the top because they are played by more critics in general. A critic or whoever can play through and make content about 3-5 games in the span of time that it takes to play through Octopath Traveler II once. It’s not like the Oscars where to time investment to watch a low-budget indie film is very different from watching Barbie. It definitely seems like unless your RPG is reaching Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3 levels of hype, many critics don’t want to spend time on a super long game. Which sucks, because (J)RPGs are probably still my favorite genre, but at the end of the day you gotta know which of your tastes are currently thought of as niche and which aren’t. If you don’t think The Game Awards are speaking to your taste, then go to JRPG Jungle or some other YouTuber or website that does align with your tastes so maybe they will get invited next year and represent your tastes better. 🤷‍♂️ Or vote for BG3, despite being a Western RPG, so that a rising tide may lift all boats.

My wife is going to play the original SNES version while I play the remake through in Japanese. Very excited to see the differences in the remake, and any major differences in the script as my wife does the English version. It will have to wait until she’s done with her current game though, so I may not play until January. :-/ It’ll be hard to NOT play it until then. Loved it as a kid, replayed it a decade ago and thought it still held up. Curious to see what a new generation thinks of it.

Nothing on the Switch this weekend, unless the wife and I get an hour of SMBW in.

I recently started the Japan-exclusive My Summer Vacation 2 for PSP, and will try to do an in-game day each day. 楽しいね。

Besides that, I’ll probably do some PS3 gaming as I try to keep cleaning up my older consoles’ libraries. I’ll probably end up playing some other Japanese game. 😅

@-wc- I do miss that quick boot up. The best feature they ever added to the Wii U was that Quick Start screen.

Man, what a great year it’s been for games. Happy for BG3 since it is a fantastic game and maybe even more people will be convinced to check it out now that it’s getting some awards. TotK doesn’t need more help, but I expect it will likely get more GOTY awards overall.

Either way….

1998. 2004. 2023.

Privileged to have been actively playing through gaming’s best years.

@-wc- Thank you. I understand people have different proclivities, but I also didn’t sell my GCN when I got a Wii, and pretty much never used the GCN again. 😅 I only kept it because I like the silver color and GCNs weren’t getting much trade-in value once I did get a Wii. If the Switch isn’t trading in well by the time I get a Switch 2, then… idk. Maybe my wife would like to use it, but if we both knew a family member or friend who couldn’t afford it for their kids, we’d be more inclined to not hold on to it. 🤷‍♂️

There’s four four-player mode modes?!?! (😉)

Typos aside, thanks for the PSA!! Adding it to the wishlist! Is it going to be reviewed by NL?

Oh wow, I did not expect the majority of people here to hold on to it! Interesting.

If it literally did everything my original Switch could do and all my games are playable on Switch 2? I’d trade/sell it towards Switch 2 once I got all my profiles carried over.

Bowser Castle 3 is the most impressive Bowser Castle yet.

I’m curious as to what the reviews got Super Crazy Rhythm Castle are and if the performance problems reported on Switch persist at launch.

I’d be tempted by DD Advance if they did more to it than just add borders.

Played through these with the family last night and I got 1st in all eight courses, so I think this is the best wave yet!

Jokes aside, I agree with nearly everything the review said. I will also defend the Funky voice haters’ right to hate.

It is impressive, but it doesn’t “have a hope in hell” that it’ll reach the levels of the DS or PS2, as the article asks, but it would be awesome if it did. Regardless of it ACTUALLY reaching those numbers or not, clearly it has reached the same levels of mindshare. If you’ve heard of any game console in the last half decade, it was probably the Switch.

I do really love the little bugger and outside of the PC, I have more games for it than any other platform and I’ve been gaming for about three decades now… which is why the Switch 2 has to be backwards compatible!! 😠

Pikmin 4 is so great! I wish it was even more popular in the West, however.

I’ve got this on PC so the controls aren’t an issue for me. I’m glad this is getting more reviews and attention though.

The existing reviews for the PC version of this game aren’t super hot, which is a shame because it does present well.

I’m glad it’s great. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while! I really just can’t get over how great this game looks graphically. I need to go and see some HD-2D compilation video to compare, but this really does look like the best I’ve seen in that style.

1998, 2004, 2023. This is one of the best years in gaming ever. Maybe the best.

And the list of British words spelled (sorry, spelt 😏) strangely to my eyes continues to grow. Sceptical.

I don’t play Smash to the level of other people, so I’d be okay with just porting this up to the Switch 2 and then using that free development time to make a Smash or Smash-like that’s not necessarily bigger, but just different. SSBU really is the ULTIMATE version of that N64 title, so maybe now is the time to go in a radical direction with the series.

@Mana_Knight Lion King is harder, for the wrong reasons, than any DKC. We just had more time as kids to bash our heads against a game because it was what we rented or given as a gift so what else are we to do?

@Chibi

Personally, I don’t come here to read about Spider-Man 2 for example.

Right, you come because the article title asks everyone what they’re playing this weekend. It does not ask what Nintendo Switch game they’re playing. People matter more than console loyalties. What do you gain by an editor saying “I’m not playing anything on a Nintendo console this weekend,” instead of “I’m playing Spider-Man 2 this weekend because I’m loving it.”? What do you actually gain? People can love Nintendo but not feel beholden to whatever standards you seem to have placed on them.

I’m mostly using this time to get some chores done, but if I have down time, I’ll definitely be continuing my JPN run of Star Ocean, and maybe some Dying Light if I feel like it.

GBA because of the extra content. It was good!

This will be great to see the Switch performance, and if I push it, I might finish the game within the period.

@Neckcrane Glad you’re loving it. I did really enjoy the Olimar story and even the stuff after that still kept me entertained and on my toes. It’s really great.

It really took me a while because they’re all unappealing to me. Nonetheless, I liked the variety of locales offered by the European one, even if I think “The Shake Dimension” isn’t a good subtitle.

I’m actually intrigued. It’s unlikely I’ll pick it up, but I’m happy there’s been a change of pace in the series lately.

@Vexx234 Nice!! As someone who has underwent the same endeavor years prior, how are you finding them and which are you playing right now? Are you paying them all in their original incarnation (with English ROM hacks for some) or are you playing remakes?

@HaileySheridon Mischief Makers is a solid classic and like you I wish it was re-released in some form, at least so that those great boss fights could be experienced by a new generation.

@Neckcrane I’m so sorry to hear about your situation!! Hope you find something soon!! I don’t know where you are in Pikmin 4, but it might have more content than you realize, so I hope you get everything out of it you want.

The wife and I may begin our co-op campaign of SMBW on Sunday if time permits. We’ll probably play an hour or so per session so it might take a while to get through the game. 😅

In other news, 36 hours later and I completed Pikmin 4. I’ve played every mainline Pikmin game since 1, and really am shocked by the the quality and the amount of content in Pikmin 4. To be clear, that was 36 hours to see all content and even until that last hour the surprises and hits just kept on coming. Did not and will not attempt to get platinums on each Dandori challenge or whatever. If I have a criticism, it’s that the post-game might be more engaging than the tail end of the main campaign, and that Oatchi is so powerful, you feel handicapped without him. I love that pup though. This might be second to Pikmin 2 as the best Pikmin game, and really is in some ways the perfection of the spirit of that game.

So now I will probably be wrapping up my playthrough of Guardians of the Galaxy on PS5 before my PS+ month runs out and starting my JPN play-through of Star Ocean on my PSP. This weekend includes my birthday and though the wife is working, getting some alone time to just do some gaming ain’t a shabby gift.

I was going to make a joking comment, but I’d rather ask outright: are two of the “joys” supposed to be nearly identical or are core and strength supposed to be thought of separately?