Tupin

Not one peep from them or TPC about the US government dragging their IPs through the mud though. Very brave!

Can't find the Epstein List but can go after pirates of products that aren't even American. Interesting.

I'll be honest, this game was slightly underwhelming. I echo the concerns about fighting with the controls the entire time I was playing. It just never felt "good" to play if that makes any sense at all. Shame, I think their second go at a similar title they would have nailed it.

All I will remember about this game is the attempted bait and switch in the way it was announced.

I think at least part of Nintendo Life's obsession with Atooi is that it reposts GoNintendo a lot and they are personal friends with him as well. This is a lot of favoritism going back a decade plus.

Played the demo and the translation of this one felt like it was done via AI.

I liked the demo for this one but unless you're British or "get" British humor/what it is satirizing, a lot is probably lost on you.

Marketing on this one felt a bit deceptive to me.

Why does this one developer consistently get such positive treatment by this site despite years and years of disappointment and disrespect towards their funders? It's been years, someone should actually put their feet to the fire.

This guy started his career and became well known by saying Nintendo was doomed to failure because of the GameCube. Why would they ever want to collaborate with him?

@TAndvig The most commented thread is one about Sweet Baby and people calling it woke.

@fenlix I've seen the Steam forum. Most of the comments are not even about the game, just racism. I see the harassment. They massively outnumber objective complaints about the game.

@fenlix https://x.com/Abzybabzy/status/1797351040028680634

@fenlix Why is it a bad thing to associate with people with whom you share your views to promote them?

People are calling the dev the n word openly on Twitter and people say there is no harassment lmao

@FantasiaWHT If it is bad enough that the owners of the site don't want it shown, it is unacceptable. Don't like it, go to another site or open your own. They don't have to explain things to you.

@FantasiaWHT If you don't punish unacceptable behavior, you encourage it. Again, you of all people should know that but it seems you have a pretty cynical and jaded view of what is unacceptable. I truly hope you aren't like this with all of your clients, and if you are, maybe your demeanor is better fit for another area.

@Pod There will always be an excuse because they don't want certain groups involved in gaming in any context, ever.

@FantasiaWHT As a lawyer in your line of work, the dismissive nature you have towards your clients is pretty shocking. Also, as a lawyer you should know this is a private website and if the owners don't want to see people spew vitriol, they don't have to. The things I've seen on here about this game is shocking. The things I've seen all over the Internet about it are just various conspiracy theories and accusations. People have had it out for this game from the start, there was never a chance for this game to succeed because a bunch of Internet celebrities decided it was the punching bag of the day.

This genre has definitely changed in the last fourteen years. A "swimming sim" was cool on the Wii but the gameplay has evolved in ways this game apparently hasn't caught up with. Shame.

@Captain_Toad So the thing you hate them for most, "hating" white people/men, is not done in a game, and instead you turn to saying he shouldn't be able to collaborate with people who share similar views on diversity and having new experiences in games?

@Captain_Toad What does this have to do with a game made by a black man, starting an original black character, based on his own culture, and partially based on his own life experience?

@SMUGSLOTH69 It's not worth arguing about it. Just move on, people will not be moved once they're stuck in their opinions about them. Pick your battles and avoid this one.

I have been having a lot of fun with this one, it's a good Metroidvania.

This is not badass at all.

This game is the poster child of what having deep discounts too early on can do long term. How many people actually bought the first game for full price? Everyone got it on sale, like they do for all Ubisoft games. People didn't buy this game when it came out because everyone knew it would be half price in four months. Ubisoft can blame Nintendo all they want but they cultivate this consumer purchasing culture for their products, it's really that simple.

And I want world hunger to end and a unicorn that poops jelly beans. It's fun to pretend.

Blood money. Absolutely disgusting and indefensible.

The only real negative of this year IMO is Nintendo's "release now, finish later" crap like with Switch Sports and Mario Strikers. Sadly Switch Sports sold well in Japan so they will continue with it.

Just typical Western games journalists mad that Nintendo exists, like they have been for over twenty years at this point.

This is just leverage to ensure the deal with Microsoft goes through and to take away one of Sony's arguments. Both sides have argued in court before that Nintendo isn't a "real" competitor so this is odd.

Played it in Atari 50, it's good. Allegedly this game was stolen by a repair man who wasn't supposed to touch it but that story is probably fake.

It looks like fun but those designs/names look like someone made a parody of what 3D platformers want. Anyone else here about "Scrimblo Bimblo, the Lovable Scrunko?" Getting those vibes.

@Atticus-XI Unions protect all workers. It's not just for if you're in a mine or something.
This is great news generally. The NLRB found fault and hopefully Nintendo learned their lesson.

@valharian No, and Nintendo knows this. Loads of people will never hold them to the same standards as the rest of the industry ever, because of nostalgia. This goes for everything they do.

@PtM The reality is is that Nintendo gets away with this because there isn't a disconnect between their public persona and what is going on behind the scenes like there is with Ubisoft/Rockstar etc. People claiming to profess left wing ideals but having bad stuff behind the scene are always focused on more by American reactionaries than "run of the mill" bad stuff like this. There's no "left wingers are hypocrites" story that can be run.

@ThePizzaCheese Yes, part of the sexism is that women can't play the same game men do without being criticized for it. Point?

@DiggleDog Nintendo 100% preps announcements to distract from these sorts of things too.

@KillerBOB Sharing sexual "jokes" and the systemic culture of using and abusing contractors is not something to be forgotten. What planet are you from where it is okay to share a meme talking about wanting to have sex with one of your company's products, when the product is children's video games? Why would you say that to a contractor? It's reprehensible, and people like you that say "get over it" are the problem. I don't care how socially awkward or geeky you are, it is unacceptable.

@Zuljaras Every single one of Kotaku's "allegations" has been extensively backed up and they have a track record of this being true, see Rockstar, Activision, Ubisoft, etc. People who are doubting this just want to go to bat for their favorite multinational corporation that doesn't actually care about them. Come on now.

Absolutely completely reprehensible conduct. It's disgusting to see people here throw accusations at Kotaku too when you know they're the only people in the industry that would ever dare do this. Look how most places are just reporting it with kid gloves. NoA has the entire gaming media wrapped around its finger.

Everyone but Kotaku is too afraid of losing their free review copies, because getting Splatoon 3 for free is more important than undercovering years and years of labor abuses and sexual misconduct. Come on, this guy was posting a sexual "meme" about Nintendo's product, on official Nintendo channels of communication, and because the targets were just contractors he got away with it. Anyone even mildly familiar with the law would be rightfully mortified. The absolute crazy and rigid separation NoA has leads to abuse, and is intentionally designed so that contractors get pumped for work, get harassed, and get strung along for years under the promise of one day being an employee. It's awful but you know what Nintendo will do? Nothing. This site and many others will forget it by next week and nothing will improve. Sad.

@KillerBOB Sure, just never complain about systemic issues that happen at the company and encourage people to get burned out and abused.

@KanaMomonogi Him and Jools are basically eternally stuck in the past, it's fitting.

Honestly, not too excited. Especially when you read the rumors about why he left Sega/how he acted there. He basically made a huge mess, got demoted, then left. What is he even going to make now with his studio of people he poached from his old one, a Yakuza clone for phones? Maybe a cheese gyudon cooking sim...

Everyone acting like this is a bad thing, please look up what an absolute mess Nagoshi made of Sega before he got demoted. He refused to put any effort into anything that wasn't Yakuza, publicly mocked fans of Sega games, and had conflicts of interest with Sony. He was an awful CCO at Sega, and Yakuza was being run into the ground. Sega was smart enough to get rid of him before he made the company even worse.

That's a bit of an overreaction to a joke. The meme he posted was actually made by people DEFENDING him, not mocking him.

Piracy is a service problem. Nintendo is the ONLY company that has to do this whack-a-mole type stuff with people pirating their games, because they are the ONLY ones that don't give people easy access to them. No matter how many times people scream and tell them exactly what they want, for some reason Nintendo doesn't listen. It thinks everyone having access to their games all the time would devalue them or something, which is an incredibly stupid angle to take, given how every other media company is doing better than ever giving people constant access.

I'm sorry, I don't believe them. A huge portion of the Switch market are people who want to play games portably, even if they have to sacrifice image quality/frames for it. Why, if that is your primary use of the Switch, would you stick with Switch? There's always Nintendo's IPs but people have forgotten how on autopilot NIntendo has been this generation. Once you've beaten your BoTW and Odyssey tier games, all that's really left is inferior ports. Well, now you can buy a system that can play ports, better than the Switch did, with games often on sale, for just a small amount more. I think the only reason they don't say they're going after the Switch is so Nintendo fanboys don't attack them.

Relatively hard to believe considering how unpopular it is in Japan.

You know what it really feels like to me? It almost feels like Tanabe wants to make a Zelda game but is stuck with Paper Mario, and thus has to put in trappings of Paper Mario (the humor and the turn-based battles.) Why not let him make a Paper Zelda game?