Not sure if they deserve to be in the top 50 but Paperboy and Top Gun 1+2 would be nice to have in the database. And if you one day want to have the Top 50 Worst Games one day, add To The Earth just for the hell of me giving it a 1 out of 10.
I remember being annoyed there wasn't any sort of blue coin count per world, but when I played Mario Sunshine two years ago I found that at least buried in the menus under the guide maps. So if you have a previous save file, you can at least see which worlds you have completed and use the checklist for any worlds where you didn't collect them all: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/j69ctl/mario_sunshine_shows_how_many_blue_coins_you_have/
@Damo, NintendoLife definitely needs to add some of the games being talked about in the comments, this is the first system poll I can remember where a lot of top 50 contenders are altogether missing from even having a chance.
Here are my scores based on what I've played enough to form an opinion. There's plenty of classics I haven't played that are missing from my list. I'm harsher on some games simply to spread out the scores a bit more:
10:
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid: Zero Mission
Mother 3
Advance Wars
9:
WarioWare: Twisted!
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!
Wario Land 4
Golden Sun
Metroid Fusion
8:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Donkey Kong Country 3 (needs to be added)
7:
Sonic Advance
Orbital (needs to be added)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
6:
Super Mario Advance
Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced (needs to be added)
Game & Watch Gallery 4
It's Mr. Pants (needs to be added)
Donkey Kong Country (needs to be added)
5:
Donkey Kong Country 2 (needs to be added)
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island
DK: King of Swing
Dialhex (needs to be added)
4:
Super Mario Ball (Mario Pinball Land)
Banjo-Pilot
F-Zero: GP Legend
Densetsu no Starfi 3
Boundish (missing, but no loss)
Pac-Man Collection
3:
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (missing, but no loss)
Cartoon Network Collection Videos Volume 2 (missing, but no loss)
@KingBowser the great thing about StreetPass from a preservationist standpoint is that it will always be possible since it doesn't rely on online servers, downside is that very very few people carrying 3DS with them so chances of getting random StreetPass connection will be close to null.
I really like how the vast majority of the people who commented are very mature and okay with a game originally only for Nintendo being allowed to be ported to other consoles. When Horizon Zero Dawn was announced to be ported to PC even though it's been out a few years, a lot of people were incredibly upset on Push Square as if the company betrayed them personally. I can sort of understand the fear of losing exclusivity to the competition if you are Microsoft fan right now, but both Sony and Nintendo have plenty of exclusives and it's better for gamers as a whole if we don't need to own every console to play the best games on our platforms of choice.
I live in the United States now but I lived in Britain for a few years as a kid, so I'm interested in getting the European version. Anybody in Europe, I'll trade you one US controller when it goes back in stock. Just let me know of your interest and we'll work out a swap.
And just so everybody is aware, there are many barriers to get My Nintendo store items from a different region. You have to be subscribed to that particular region's online Switch service (Nintendo points card of that region would work), you have to have a European address (can be overcome with shipping proxy service), and you have to have that region's credit card (most difficult barrier since it has to be linked to that region's bank). So definitely reply to my comment if you want to swap a European controller for an American version (both would be cool to own, with multi-colour buttons the neat thing about European and the concave/convex buttons the neat thing about American).
@RyanCraddock, for peoples' birthdays it makes sense, but it doesn't make any sense to mention every single year a game gets older by 1 year. Please stick to true milestones like 10/20/30/50 years.
@Anti-Matter, that is a very unexpected and unusual list, it's refreshing to see something totally different than the "consensus". If I had to guess, I imagine you were pretty young when the GameCube was out. There are some gems that you might appreciate now that you're older, hopefully they get some re-releases.
Here's my personal favorites top 10: 1. Super Smash Bros. Melee HONORABLE MENTION: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$! 2. F-Zero GX HONORABLE MENTION: Mario Kart: Double Dash!! 3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem HONORABLE MENTION: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes 4. Beyond Good & Evil HONORABLE MENTION: Star Fox Adventures 5. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader HONORABLE MENTION: Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike 6. Metroid Prime HONORABLE MENTION: Pikmin 7. The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures HONORABLE MENTION: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker 8. Animal Crossing HONORABLE MENTION: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat 9. Super Mario Sunshine HONORABLE MENTION: Luigi’s Mansion 10. Resident Evil HONORABLE MENTION: Killer7
Here are my personal top 10 favorites of the games I played, with honorable mentions to loosely connected "similar" games that I left off the main list to try to give it some variety: 1. Mario Kart DS HONORABLE MENTION: Metroid Prime: Hunters 2. Animal Crossing: Wild World HONORABLE MENTION: Scribblenauts 3. Kirby: Canvas Curse HONORABLE MENTION: Electroplankton 4. WarioWare D.I.Y. HONORABLE MENTION: Retro Game Challenge 5. Trauma Center: Under the Knife HONORABLE MENTION: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 6. Professor Layton and the Curious Village HONORABLE MENTION: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 7. New Super Mario Bros. HONORABLE MENTION: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time 8. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks HONORABLE MENTION: Pokemon Black 9. Picross 3D HONORABLE MENTION: Tetris DS 10. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day! HONORABLE MENTION: Nintendogs: Lab & Friends
Is it possible there are two separate issues? The one I've experienced is the "interference issue". Occasionally seemingly up to 2 seconds of input is lost from the joystick side, even after I sent in my launch day left joycons for the quick fix by Nintendo. It doesn't seem to drift so much as default to whatever position the joystick was at a certain moment in time. This issue doesn't happen at all with my pro controllers.
What I've seen described elsewhere where the joystick itself is the culprit seems to be a different issue that could be confused for the same thing. I hope both of these issues are fixed in a future revision.
@Atariboy, it's interesting how human memory works. When reading the article, for some reason I thought I recalled witnessing this strange phenomenon once myself around 5 years ago on my original copy of Pilotwings that I got in 1992. which has the stamp 00 on the back. But when I tried it just now, the plane landed safely. I didn't buy Pilotwings on the Virtual Console and the Super Everdrive I had didn't have the DSP chip to be able to play it, but maybe I'm remembering seeing it in an emulator. Do any emulator setups default to DSP-1b?
@impurekind, I played a LOT of Game Boy as a kid, and even at the time I felt that most games were honestly kind of boring compared to SNES or even NES games, but it was the only portable option I had at the time. Still, I would prefer if they first did a Game Boy Classic based on the original model first (perhaps with an option to colorize games using GBC/SGB/custom palettes because it would surely have a color screen built in). Then later they could go to GBC Classic, etc.
I came up with a list of 30 games for the original Game Boy Classic awhile ago, coming up with 30 GBC only games for GBC Classic would actually be more difficult because it had a much shorter lifespan.
Let me know if you would buy a GB Classic with the following: Balloon Kid Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3 Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge Donkey Kong (1994) Donkey Kong Land Faceball 2000 Final Fantasy Adventure Final Fantasy Legend II Game Boy Camera Gargoyle's Quest James Bond 007 Kid Dracula Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Kirby's Dreamland 2 Mario's Picross Mega Man V Metroid II: Return of Samus Mole Mania Monster Max Ninja Gaiden Shadow Pokémon Pinball Pokémon Yellow Revenge of the 'Gator Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Super R.C. Pro-Am Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan Tetris The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Wave Race
@SKTTR, @gamer83, @justin233, Here's a top 10 I made where my goal was variety: 1. Tetris HONORABLE MENTION: Dr. Mario 2. Pokemon Yellow Version HONORABLE MENTION: Final Fantasy Adventure 3. Donkey Kong HONORABLE MENTION: Space Invaders 4. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening HONORABLE MENTION: Metroid II: Return of Samus 5. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins HONORABLE MENTION: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 6. Mega Man V HONORABLE MENTION: Gargoyle’s Quest 7. Kirby's Pinball Land HONORABLE MENTION: Kirby's Dream Land 2 8. Game & Watch Gallery 3 HONORABLE MENTION: Mario’s Picross 9. Mole Mania HONORABLE MENTION: Harvest Moon GB 10. Game Boy Camera HONORABLE MENTION: Faceball 2000
@Shiryu, I was really amazed and in awe of the possibilities when MSU-1 was first released, and it's a shame that labeling the audio as "enhancement" instead of "arrangement" has really left a sour taste in peoples' mouths. I agree with some of the criticism, that a lot of the arrangements don't really jive well with the source game. In my opinion, the MSU hacks that work out best are the ones that use as official of arrangements as possible instead of wildly different remixes or lowfi MIDI recreations. But as other people have stated, these are optional anyway. I know how much effort it takes just from the few songs I looped from the Zelda 25th anniversary CD and the official Link to the Past soundtrack: http://www.videogamescrapbook.com/download/the_legend_of_zelda_a_link_to_the_past_msu.php
@Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, please update this article to make it clear that they announced accessories, not hardware. Read the source more closely: "RETRO-BIT® ANNOUNCES SEGA® LICENSING AGREEMENT TO PRODUCE ACCESSORIES FOR SEGA GAMING PLATFORMS". They seem to be controllers that have two plugs attached, one for USB and one for the original consoles. The current article is misleading most people into thinking they are likely to produce consoles, which isn't likely based on the source news item.
I've been working on a list of 30 games (and even started a list of what the Japanese variant could have as well as Game Boy Color Classic follow up). I started with @Yorumi and @MarcelRguez suggestions which I thought were pretty good, then brought in some of my own as well as those from "best of" and "top selling" lists. Mine also happens to share a lot of games with @SeniorDingDong. Note, I would like the Game Boy Classic Edition to include color options (classic Game Boy green, Game Boy Pocket grayscale, Super Game Boy enhanced with optional borders, and Game Boy Color/Advance palettes). It would also include rewind feature and cheap low resolution photo sensor for retro Game Boy camera support. Ideally also a cheap rumble for Pokemon Pinball (note I included games that were possible to play on the original Game Boy, with Game Boy Color-only games saved for a future classic release).
Balloon Kid Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3 Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge Donkey Kong (1994) Donkey Kong Land Faceball 2000 Final Fantasy Adventure Final Fantasy Legend II Game Boy Camera Gargoyle's Quest James Bond 007 Kid Dracula Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters Kirby's Dreamland 2 Mario's Picross Mega Man V Metroid II: Return of Samus Mole Mania Ninja Gaiden Shadow Pokémon Pinball Pokémon Yellow Revenge of the 'Gator Super Mario Land Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins Super R.C. Pro-Am Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan Tetris The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 Wave Race
Star Fox was amazing for the time, but its extremely low framerate and clunkier controls compared to Star Fox 64 will probably hurt it for anybody who hasn't played it before. If anybody looks back at the PS1/N64 era and comments how dated it feels next to gracefully aged sprite games, I can only imagine what they would say about SNES era polygons.
I was scratching my head about Metroid: Other M, then I looked at the actual photo. It's Metroid Dread, which I'm sure we can all agree is much cooler. Also indicates that the songs may not actually sample but may make loose reference to the games inspirationally or lyrically.
@ULTRA-64, yes, debate can be healthy and fun! It helps us figure out what we enjoy most about our passion and find even more appreciation for video games.
@ULTRA-64 , there is no such thing as a review without bias. Sure we can try to look at games from other perspectives, but ultimately second guessing your own perspective can only take you so far, and you may not be able to for games that don't fit your tastes as much. Some people may prefer the gameplay of Mission Impossible over Jet Force Gemini and forgive its flaws more easily, much like you are able to forgive the flaws of Jet Force Gemini more easily than the reviewer. We should respect each others opinions and realize that there is no such thing as an objective review, no matter how hard we try.
@Nico07, why wasn't the remake better than the original? It improved the textures, framerate, resolution, added polygons to the first level buildings, and added online multiplayer. What did it lose in the transition?
@Blue-Thunder, in my review scale, 5/10 means average. I think most other people have 8/10 represent that, which means a lot of 9's and 10's for almost every game that people feel nostalgia for. I also try to consider the game as if I played it for the first time in today's age with today's options, because we all tend to wear rose-tinted glasses for games we grew up on. 6/10 is a score that personally reflects my opinion of the game. All reviews are biased because they are based on personal opinion and tastes.
You say I must be a graphics junkie. I love the aesthetic of a lot of retro games, but in my mind the bland textures and sparse environments in F-Zero X reduced the sensation of speed and putting me in the mindset that I'm actually racing through a futuristic landscape. So in this case, the minimalist art style that was due to technical limitations actually hurt the game for me.
You say that X is a thoroughbred and GX isn't. To me, X feels like a prototype and GX refines almost everything about it. On top of polish, GX has more features. It adds a story mode, more tracks (including tracks from the arcade version if you are good enough), more characters, an online leaderboard at time of release, and a vehicle editor (too bad the N64DD never came out). The only feature I feel is missing is the X Cup. Even if it wasn't as random as advertised, it was a cool feature. The tracks didn't leave an impression on me in X because of the minimalist aesthetic and they didn't seem to have as much variety. But if I were to ignore that, maybe they are as well designed as how I feel about GX's tracks. The controls in GX are very sensitive and precise, they are really good in my opinion, but I can see why some people may think they are too sensitive (again, another personal choice).
Objectively speaking, neither game is better than the other because they both offer different experiences. But I am allowed to offer my opinion of the game much like you are. It's true that X is better to you and many others. Just realize that it is equally valid for GX to be a better game to me and many others.
@Blue-Thunder, why do you say it's obvious I never played F-Zero X? I mentioned the following: "During the N64 era, I played the game a lot just like I did with every other first party game. I beat the game on Master on everything except X Cup, got 1'24'' for Death Race, and played through a lot of the cups repeatedly to get the trophy symbols next to a lot of the drivers' names (perhaps a little more than 100 trophies total)."
I wrote that long review back when I was rubbed the wrong way by people claiming that F-Zero X was better than F-Zero GX. Now I realize it's a matter of opinion. Just because somebody has a different tastes from you doesn't mean they obviously didn't play the same game you love.
It's interesting to see love and passion for a game that I considered extremely average and disappointing at time of release. It's fun to compare opinions. Here's a more detailed review I wrote 7 years ago when I was more bothered by the fact that some people liked F-Zero X more than F-Zero GX (now I believe that EVERYBODY's opinion is valid for their personal taste in games and my 64 word review above does a better job of pointing out more good things):
This game was average when it was first released. If you can get your hands on F-Zero GX, there is absolutely no reason to turn on the game.
During the N64 era, I played the game a lot just like I did with every other first party game. I beat the game on Master on everything except X Cup, got 1'24'' for Death Race, and played through a lot of the cups repeatedly to get the trophy symbols next to a lot of the drivers' names (perhaps a little more than 100 trophies total). I hadn't played the game in more than five years until before this review. I spent an hour with the game to refresh my memory. I played through Jack Cup on Standard, played Big Hand in Practice, played Death Race, and beat the X Cup on Master for the first time and on the first try. I find it unlikely that I hadn't bothered trying several times to beat it before, so I'm guessing that my time with F-Zero GX has improved my skills immensely.
At the time, it was my least favorite first party N64 game, and I considered it inferior to the original. I'm a pretty big fan of that one, but my first true love for a F-Zero game occured when F-Zero GX came out.
Aspects that stand out: 1. Slamming into the contenders that have the most points, thus eliminating competiton, plus being rewarded extra lives and health for doing so. 2. precise controls compared to games such as Mario Kart 64, which I realized had horrible controls when I went back to it.
This is the least visually appealing first party title for the N64. The courses use very repetitive textures, the backgrounds are less detailed than Super Mario Kart for the SNES, each track only has a select few low polygon decorations, and you are driving into a sea of fog. On the plus side however, you have a constant framerate that's as fast as a TV can handle, and you're racing against 30 other cars. Despite the ugliness, I'm glad they decided to choose number of simulatenous cars over decent graphics. Otherwise my favorite part of the game, crashing other vehicles, would be much more difficult.
However, the poor graphics also hurt the signature appeal of the F-Zero series, the sense of speed. Though it plays at a fast framerate, the bland textures and sparsely detailed environment make this pale in comparison to the feeling of rocketing through F-Zero GX.
As for the multiplayer, it isn't the F-Zero series strong point, since it's hard to physically interact with other drivers when there are only three others, unless you have items like in Mario Kart.
F-Zero GX however blew me away. It took all the good aspects of F-Zero X, added huge amounts of graphical polish, added tons of modes and customization, improved the track design, and made the Master difficulty worthy of it's name. The Story Mode at the hardest difficulty is one of the aspects that is constantly mentioned as being perfect for the hardcore. If you aren't that good, you still have the lesser difficulties. In F-Zero X, if you're any good at racing games you'll chew through the game.
Oh, and the X Cup isn't random as advertised. I played that the most since I thought the whole randomly generated thing was cool but then I eventually realized that it was approximately 12 fixed courses that use mirror modes and backwards in order to increase variety. I suppose if they really had randomly generated courses, you'd have the chance of one being impossible. Though there is one cool one that has a section where nearly all of the CPUs die! Anyway, the track design as a whole in this game isn't that inspired except for the 360 degree tunnel and tube ideas. F-Zero GX takes those ideas for it's tracks and improves on it! Sorry to go on and on about that game, but it seriously is a diamond in the rough that needs to be recognized!
@Lunapplebloom, Star Fox 64 3D bettered everything except for the voice acting and music. They should have included an option for the original voices/music. The original stumbled upon perfect camp value that is easy to get nostalgic over.
@Samuel-Flutter That's a funny story. I was actually thrown off for a second by the 3 in the dice when I saw this box art just now for the first time in a long time.
NintendoLife, here's another cry for having this feature linked somewhere on the front page. It's a shame for such a brilliantly designed feature to be forgotten so quickly. Just compare the participation when it was linked during the first two games.
@Jahir, I think it would be great to have a few reviews in other languages. Even if a lot of this site's readers couldn't read them as easily, it would represent that the Nintendo 64 was enjoyed all over the world, not just by English speaking players!
@Franklin, NintendoLife made a mistake on the Saturn controller predating the Nintendo 64 controller. I fact checked it because I remember reading somewhere that when the N64 controller was unveiled, Sega and Sony quickly made their own controller joystick versions. Check out the release dates below: Nintendo 64: June 23, 1996: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64 Saturn 3D Control Pad: July 5, 1996: http://segaretro.org/3D_Control_Pad
@yuwarite, maybe N64 will never be retro to you personally, but you've got to be considerate of other generations of gamers. The epitome of retro video games for me is the NES, but I know that wouldn't be considered retro to many fans that are older than me.
NintendoLife, you need to put this feature somewhere back on the front page so people will continue to participate! This is too cool of an idea to get lost at sea.
I agree that this feature is a brilliant idea. It's fun to read concise thoughts on a game as well as a fun challenge to write my own feelings about each game. It would be cool to have some sort of barometer on what each score signifies. I personally like to use a scale where 5/10 represents 'average, nothing special, but not too painful to play'. I bet my scores will be lower than the average.
Comments 45
Re: Nintendo's Official Magazine For Winter 2024 Gets English Digital Release
@John_Deacon and @Dijita: I've created downloads of Nintendo Magazine in my Google Drive folder. I compiled the best quality English pages and included the Japanese pages when no English page was available.https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1wiwd-v34ImTVyV_LTN8O8Hx3pTlZCqUz
Re: 'Nintendo Music' Will Add More Tracks Over Time, Here's What's Been Revealed So Far
I spend a lot of time curating video game music into playlists and thinking about the overall flow. Here are two themed playlists I created:
Haunted Halloween: https://m.nintendo.com/shared/en-US/US/users/8a83dc4864216e3d/userPlaylists/0EC7765F-1583-44DA-BBD9-11394F415BD3
Water Way: https://m.nintendo.com/shared/en-US/US/users/8a83dc4864216e3d/userPlaylists/99B0CCE4-F3CA-4F63-B83C-ACA89D917008
Re: More Donkey Kong Figures Teased For LEGO Super Mario
Put your hands together...
Re: Feature: Best NES Games
Not sure if they deserve to be in the top 50 but Paperboy and Top Gun 1+2 would be nice to have in the database. And if you one day want to have the Top 50 Worst Games one day, add To The Earth just for the hell of me giving it a 1 out of 10.
Re: Nintendo Appears To Have Already Terminated Super Mario Maker's Bookmark Website
@Nintendo_Thumb thank you for all of your many recordings, they helped me compile an ID/video spreadsheet of one course per costume since that is the main feature Mario Maker 2 lacks: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WIxsX5yvglsAMVMr9KXYHq23d776eFEtUGmxZuTCQSc/edit
Even without bookmark site at least it’s possible to type in IDs for now.
Re: Random: Fan-Made App Helps You Track Down Super Mario Sunshine's Pesky Blue Coins
I remember being annoyed there wasn't any sort of blue coin count per world, but when I played Mario Sunshine two years ago I found that at least buried in the menus under the guide maps. So if you have a previous save file, you can at least see which worlds you have completed and use the checklist for any worlds where you didn't collect them all: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/j69ctl/mario_sunshine_shows_how_many_blue_coins_you_have/
Re: Poll: Rate Your Favourite Game Boy Advance Games
@Damo, NintendoLife definitely needs to add some of the games being talked about in the comments, this is the first system poll I can remember where a lot of top 50 contenders are altogether missing from even having a chance.
Here are my scores based on what I've played enough to form an opinion. There's plenty of classics I haven't played that are missing from my list. I'm harsher on some games simply to spread out the scores a bit more:
10:
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Metroid: Zero Mission
Mother 3
Advance Wars
9:
WarioWare: Twisted!
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!
Wario Land 4
Golden Sun
Metroid Fusion
8:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Four Swords
Kirby: Nightmare in Dreamland
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Donkey Kong Country 3 (needs to be added)
7:
Sonic Advance
Orbital (needs to be added)
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge
6:
Super Mario Advance
Konami Collector's Series: Arcade Advanced (needs to be added)
Game & Watch Gallery 4
It's Mr. Pants (needs to be added)
Donkey Kong Country (needs to be added)
5:
Donkey Kong Country 2 (needs to be added)
Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World
Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island
DK: King of Swing
Dialhex (needs to be added)
4:
Super Mario Ball (Mario Pinball Land)
Banjo-Pilot
F-Zero: GP Legend
Densetsu no Starfi 3
Boundish (missing, but no loss)
Pac-Man Collection
3:
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer (missing, but no loss)
Cartoon Network Collection Videos Volume 2 (missing, but no loss)
Re: Nintendo Game Awards Switch Sale Discounts Fire Emblem And More 'Great Games'
@NicheAbou with the "skipping CD" aesthetic for the main Daytona song! "DAYTON-na-NA-na-NA-na-NA-na!" https://youtu.be/7c2NBqwxDII
Re: Nintendo Currently Has "No Plans" To End Online Services For The 3DS
@KingBowser the great thing about StreetPass from a preservationist standpoint is that it will always be possible since it doesn't rely on online servers, downside is that very very few people carrying 3DS with them so chances of getting random StreetPass connection will be close to null.
Re: Nintendo Was "Fine" With Platinum Releasing The Wonderful 101 Remaster On Other Platforms
I really like how the vast majority of the people who commented are very mature and okay with a game originally only for Nintendo being allowed to be ported to other consoles. When Horizon Zero Dawn was announced to be ported to PC even though it's been out a few years, a lot of people were incredibly upset on Push Square as if the company betrayed them personally. I can sort of understand the fear of losing exclusivity to the competition if you are Microsoft fan right now, but both Sony and Nintendo have plenty of exclusives and it's better for gamers as a whole if we don't need to own every console to play the best games on our platforms of choice.
Re: Nintendo Promises More Switch SNES Controllers For UK And Europe, Apologises For Site Issues
I live in the United States now but I lived in Britain for a few years as a kid, so I'm interested in getting the European version. Anybody in Europe, I'll trade you one US controller when it goes back in stock. Just let me know of your interest and we'll work out a swap.
And just so everybody is aware, there are many barriers to get My Nintendo store items from a different region. You have to be subscribed to that particular region's online Switch service (Nintendo points card of that region would work), you have to have a European address (can be overcome with shipping proxy service), and you have to have that region's credit card (most difficult barrier since it has to be linked to that region's bank). So definitely reply to my comment if you want to swap a European controller for an American version (both would be cool to own, with multi-colour buttons the neat thing about European and the concave/convex buttons the neat thing about American).
Re: Anniversary: The Original Super Mario Bros. Launched On NES 34 Years Ago Today
@RyanCraddock, for peoples' birthdays it makes sense, but it doesn't make any sense to mention every single year a game gets older by 1 year. Please stick to true milestones like 10/20/30/50 years.
Re: Poll: Vote For Your Favourite GameCube Games
@Anti-Matter, that is a very unexpected and unusual list, it's refreshing to see something totally different than the "consensus". If I had to guess, I imagine you were pretty young when the GameCube was out. There are some gems that you might appreciate now that you're older, hopefully they get some re-releases.
Re: Poll: Vote For Your Favourite GameCube Games
Here's my personal favorites top 10:
1. Super Smash Bros. Melee
HONORABLE MENTION: WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!
2. F-Zero GX
HONORABLE MENTION: Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
3. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
HONORABLE MENTION: Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
4. Beyond Good & Evil
HONORABLE MENTION: Star Fox Adventures
5. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
HONORABLE MENTION: Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
6. Metroid Prime
HONORABLE MENTION: Pikmin
7. The Legend of Zelda: Four Sword Adventures
HONORABLE MENTION: The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
8. Animal Crossing
HONORABLE MENTION: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat
9. Super Mario Sunshine
HONORABLE MENTION: Luigi’s Mansion
10. Resident Evil
HONORABLE MENTION: Killer7
Re: Pinball Joins Hamster's Arcade Archives Series This Week
@gaga64, some differences I know of is that it has ambient music and Bubbles from Clu Clu Land makes a cameo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNTAys_AVT4
Re: Reminder: Vote For Your Favourite Nintendo DS Games
Here are my personal top 10 favorites of the games I played, with honorable mentions to loosely connected "similar" games that I left off the main list to try to give it some variety:
1. Mario Kart DS
HONORABLE MENTION: Metroid Prime: Hunters
2. Animal Crossing: Wild World
HONORABLE MENTION: Scribblenauts
3. Kirby: Canvas Curse
HONORABLE MENTION: Electroplankton
4. WarioWare D.I.Y.
HONORABLE MENTION: Retro Game Challenge
5. Trauma Center: Under the Knife
HONORABLE MENTION: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
6. Professor Layton and the Curious Village
HONORABLE MENTION: Hotel Dusk: Room 215
7. New Super Mario Bros.
HONORABLE MENTION: Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
8. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
HONORABLE MENTION: Pokemon Black
9. Picross 3D
HONORABLE MENTION: Tetris DS
10. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day!
HONORABLE MENTION: Nintendogs: Lab & Friends
Re: Poll: Have Your Joy-Con Been Drifting?
Is it possible there are two separate issues? The one I've experienced is the "interference issue". Occasionally seemingly up to 2 seconds of input is lost from the joystick side, even after I sent in my launch day left joycons for the quick fix by Nintendo. It doesn't seem to drift so much as default to whatever position the joystick was at a certain moment in time. This issue doesn't happen at all with my pro controllers.
What I've seen described elsewhere where the joystick itself is the culprit seems to be a different issue that could be confused for the same thing. I hope both of these issues are fixed in a future revision.
Re: Random: The Captivating Mystery Of Pilotwings’ Crashing Plane
@Atariboy, it's interesting how human memory works. When reading the article, for some reason I thought I recalled witnessing this strange phenomenon once myself around 5 years ago on my original copy of Pilotwings that I got in 1992. which has the stamp 00 on the back. But when I tried it just now, the plane landed safely. I didn't buy Pilotwings on the Virtual Console and the Super Everdrive I had didn't have the DSP chip to be able to play it, but maybe I'm remembering seeing it in an emulator. Do any emulator setups default to DSP-1b?
Re: Reminder: There's Still Time To Vote For Your Favourite Game Boy Games!
@impurekind, I played a LOT of Game Boy as a kid, and even at the time I felt that most games were honestly kind of boring compared to SNES or even NES games, but it was the only portable option I had at the time. Still, I would prefer if they first did a Game Boy Classic based on the original model first (perhaps with an option to colorize games using GBC/SGB/custom palettes because it would surely have a color screen built in). Then later they could go to GBC Classic, etc.
I came up with a list of 30 games for the original Game Boy Classic awhile ago, coming up with 30 GBC only games for GBC Classic would actually be more difficult because it had a much shorter lifespan.
Let me know if you would buy a GB Classic with the following:
Balloon Kid
Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Donkey Kong (1994)
Donkey Kong Land
Faceball 2000
Final Fantasy Adventure
Final Fantasy Legend II
Game Boy Camera
Gargoyle's Quest
James Bond 007
Kid Dracula
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Mario's Picross
Mega Man V
Metroid II: Return of Samus
Mole Mania
Monster Max
Ninja Gaiden Shadow
Pokémon Pinball
Pokémon Yellow
Revenge of the 'Gator
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super R.C. Pro-Am
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan
Tetris
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Wave Race
Re: Reminder: There's Still Time To Vote For Your Favourite Game Boy Games!
@SKTTR, @gamer83, @justin233, Here's a top 10 I made where my goal was variety:
1. Tetris
HONORABLE MENTION: Dr. Mario
2. Pokemon Yellow Version
HONORABLE MENTION: Final Fantasy Adventure
3. Donkey Kong
HONORABLE MENTION: Space Invaders
4. The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
HONORABLE MENTION: Metroid II: Return of Samus
5. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
HONORABLE MENTION: Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
6. Mega Man V
HONORABLE MENTION: Gargoyle’s Quest
7. Kirby's Pinball Land
HONORABLE MENTION: Kirby's Dream Land 2
8. Game & Watch Gallery 3
HONORABLE MENTION: Mario’s Picross
9. Mole Mania
HONORABLE MENTION: Harvest Moon GB
10. Game Boy Camera
HONORABLE MENTION: Faceball 2000
Re: It's Been A Bumper Month For Super Nintendo MSU-1 Audio Enhancement Patches
@Shiryu, I was really amazed and in awe of the possibilities when MSU-1 was first released, and it's a shame that labeling the audio as "enhancement" instead of "arrangement" has really left a sour taste in peoples' mouths. I agree with some of the criticism, that a lot of the arrangements don't really jive well with the source game. In my opinion, the MSU hacks that work out best are the ones that use as official of arrangements as possible instead of wildly different remixes or lowfi MIDI recreations. But as other people have stated, these are optional anyway. I know how much effort it takes just from the few songs I looped from the Zelda 25th anniversary CD and the official Link to the Past soundtrack: http://www.videogamescrapbook.com/download/the_legend_of_zelda_a_link_to_the_past_msu.php
Re: Sega Dreamcast, Saturn And Mega Drive Hardware Coming From Retro-Bit in 2018
@Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, please update this article to make it clear that they announced accessories, not hardware. Read the source more closely: "RETRO-BIT® ANNOUNCES SEGA® LICENSING AGREEMENT TO PRODUCE ACCESSORIES FOR SEGA GAMING PLATFORMS". They seem to be controllers that have two plugs attached, one for USB and one for the original consoles. The current article is misleading most people into thinking they are likely to produce consoles, which isn't likely based on the source news item.
Re: Rumours Swirl Around a 'Game Boy Classic' Trademark, But Don't Get Too Excited
I've been working on a list of 30 games (and even started a list of what the Japanese variant could have as well as Game Boy Color Classic follow up). I started with @Yorumi and @MarcelRguez suggestions which I thought were pretty good, then brought in some of my own as well as those from "best of" and "top selling" lists. Mine also happens to share a lot of games with @SeniorDingDong. Note, I would like the Game Boy Classic Edition to include color options (classic Game Boy green, Game Boy Pocket grayscale, Super Game Boy enhanced with optional borders, and Game Boy Color/Advance palettes). It would also include rewind feature and cheap low resolution photo sensor for retro Game Boy camera support. Ideally also a cheap rumble for Pokemon Pinball (note I included games that were possible to play on the original Game Boy, with Game Boy Color-only games saved for a future classic release).
Balloon Kid
Bugs Bunny: Crazy Castle 3
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Donkey Kong (1994)
Donkey Kong Land
Faceball 2000
Final Fantasy Adventure
Final Fantasy Legend II
Game Boy Camera
Gargoyle's Quest
James Bond 007
Kid Dracula
Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters
Kirby's Dreamland 2
Mario's Picross
Mega Man V
Metroid II: Return of Samus
Mole Mania
Ninja Gaiden Shadow
Pokémon Pinball
Pokémon Yellow
Revenge of the 'Gator
Super Mario Land
Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
Super R.C. Pro-Am
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall Of The Foot Clan
Tetris
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX
Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
Wave Race
Re: Editorial: The SNES Classic Mini, Star Fox, and Downsides to Being a Mega Drive Kid
Star Fox was amazing for the time, but its extremely low framerate and clunkier controls compared to Star Fox 64 will probably hurt it for anybody who hasn't played it before. If anybody looks back at the PS1/N64 era and comments how dated it feels next to gracefully aged sprite games, I can only imagine what they would say about SNES era polygons.
Re: You Can Now Use Your Switch Joy-Cons On Your NES Classic Mini
@bluedogrulez, yes they also released a firmware update for the original NES retro receiver.
Re: Random: Kanye West's Potential Album Tracklist is All About the Wii
I was scratching my head about Metroid: Other M, then I looked at the actual photo. It's Metroid Dread, which I'm sure we can all agree is much cooler. Also indicates that the songs may not actually sample but may make loose reference to the games inspirationally or lyrically.
Re: Nintendo Declines to Comment On Touchscreen Enquiry but Confirms Switch Dock and amiibo Features
@gcunit, count me in too!
Re: Random: Here's Another Super Mario Maker 'Full Game' to Enjoy
@GloverMist can you share a course ID? I'm interested in checking out your courses!
Re: DKC2 - Red-Hot Ride
Good job on recreating balloons and mini-games! Looking forward to more recreations!
Re: Super Mario Maker: Yoshi's Island Recreation - Touch Mushy Get Dizzy
I love recreations! Where's the level code?
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Jet Force Gemini
@ULTRA-64, yes, debate can be healthy and fun! It helps us figure out what we enjoy most about our passion and find even more appreciation for video games.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Jet Force Gemini
@ULTRA-64 , there is no such thing as a review without bias. Sure we can try to look at games from other perspectives, but ultimately second guessing your own perspective can only take you so far, and you may not be able to for games that don't fit your tastes as much. Some people may prefer the gameplay of Mission Impossible over Jet Force Gemini and forgive its flaws more easily, much like you are able to forgive the flaws of Jet Force Gemini more easily than the reviewer. We should respect each others opinions and realize that there is no such thing as an objective review, no matter how hard we try.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Perfect Dark
@Nico07, why wasn't the remake better than the original? It improved the textures, framerate, resolution, added polygons to the first level buildings, and added online multiplayer. What did it lose in the transition?
Re: Nintendo 64x64: F-Zero X
@Blue-Thunder, in my review scale, 5/10 means average. I think most other people have 8/10 represent that, which means a lot of 9's and 10's for almost every game that people feel nostalgia for. I also try to consider the game as if I played it for the first time in today's age with today's options, because we all tend to wear rose-tinted glasses for games we grew up on. 6/10 is a score that personally reflects my opinion of the game. All reviews are biased because they are based on personal opinion and tastes.
You say I must be a graphics junkie. I love the aesthetic of a lot of retro games, but in my mind the bland textures and sparse environments in F-Zero X reduced the sensation of speed and putting me in the mindset that I'm actually racing through a futuristic landscape. So in this case, the minimalist art style that was due to technical limitations actually hurt the game for me.
You say that X is a thoroughbred and GX isn't. To me, X feels like a prototype and GX refines almost everything about it. On top of polish, GX has more features. It adds a story mode, more tracks (including tracks from the arcade version if you are good enough), more characters, an online leaderboard at time of release, and a vehicle editor (too bad the N64DD never came out). The only feature I feel is missing is the X Cup. Even if it wasn't as random as advertised, it was a cool feature. The tracks didn't leave an impression on me in X because of the minimalist aesthetic and they didn't seem to have as much variety. But if I were to ignore that, maybe they are as well designed as how I feel about GX's tracks. The controls in GX are very sensitive and precise, they are really good in my opinion, but I can see why some people may think they are too sensitive (again, another personal choice).
Objectively speaking, neither game is better than the other because they both offer different experiences. But I am allowed to offer my opinion of the game much like you are. It's true that X is better to you and many others. Just realize that it is equally valid for GX to be a better game to me and many others.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: F-Zero X
@Blue-Thunder, why do you say it's obvious I never played F-Zero X? I mentioned the following:
"During the N64 era, I played the game a lot just like I did with every other first party game. I beat the game on Master on everything except X Cup, got 1'24'' for Death Race, and played through a lot of the cups repeatedly to get the trophy symbols next to a lot of the drivers' names (perhaps a little more than 100 trophies total)."
I wrote that long review back when I was rubbed the wrong way by people claiming that F-Zero X was better than F-Zero GX. Now I realize it's a matter of opinion. Just because somebody has a different tastes from you doesn't mean they obviously didn't play the same game you love.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: F-Zero X
It's interesting to see love and passion for a game that I considered extremely average and disappointing at time of release. It's fun to compare opinions. Here's a more detailed review I wrote 7 years ago when I was more bothered by the fact that some people liked F-Zero X more than F-Zero GX (now I believe that EVERYBODY's opinion is valid for their personal taste in games and my 64 word review above does a better job of pointing out more good things):
This game was average when it was first released. If you can get your hands on F-Zero GX, there is absolutely no reason to turn on the game.
During the N64 era, I played the game a lot just like I did with every other first party game. I beat the game on Master on everything except X Cup, got 1'24'' for Death Race, and played through a lot of the cups repeatedly to get the trophy symbols next to a lot of the drivers' names (perhaps a little more than 100 trophies total). I hadn't played the game in more than five years until before this review. I spent an hour with the game to refresh my memory. I played through Jack Cup on Standard, played Big Hand in Practice, played Death Race, and beat the X Cup on Master for the first time and on the first try. I find it unlikely that I hadn't bothered trying several times to beat it before, so I'm guessing that my time with F-Zero GX has improved my skills immensely.
At the time, it was my least favorite first party N64 game, and I considered it inferior to the original. I'm a pretty big fan of that one, but my first true love for a F-Zero game occured when F-Zero GX came out.
Aspects that stand out:
1. Slamming into the contenders that have the most points, thus eliminating competiton, plus being rewarded extra lives and health for doing so.
2. precise controls compared to games such as Mario Kart 64, which I realized had horrible controls when I went back to it.
This is the least visually appealing first party title for the N64. The courses use very repetitive textures, the backgrounds are less detailed than Super Mario Kart for the SNES, each track only has a select few low polygon decorations, and you are driving into a sea of fog. On the plus side however, you have a constant framerate that's as fast as a TV can handle, and you're racing against 30 other cars. Despite the ugliness, I'm glad they decided to choose number of simulatenous cars over decent graphics. Otherwise my favorite part of the game, crashing other vehicles, would be much more difficult.
However, the poor graphics also hurt the signature appeal of the F-Zero series, the sense of speed. Though it plays at a fast framerate, the bland textures and sparsely detailed environment make this pale in comparison to the feeling of rocketing through F-Zero GX.
As for the multiplayer, it isn't the F-Zero series strong point, since it's hard to physically interact with other drivers when there are only three others, unless you have items like in Mario Kart.
F-Zero GX however blew me away. It took all the good aspects of F-Zero X, added huge amounts of graphical polish, added tons of modes and customization, improved the track design, and made the Master difficulty worthy of it's name. The Story Mode at the hardest difficulty is one of the aspects that is constantly mentioned as being perfect for the hardcore. If you aren't that good, you still have the lesser difficulties. In F-Zero X, if you're any good at racing games you'll chew through the game.
Oh, and the X Cup isn't random as advertised. I played that the most since I thought the whole randomly generated thing was cool but then I eventually realized that it was approximately 12 fixed courses that use mirror modes and backwards in order to increase variety. I suppose if they really had randomly generated courses, you'd have the chance of one being impossible. Though there is one cool one that has a section where nearly all of the CPUs die! Anyway, the track design as a whole in this game isn't that inspired except for the 360 degree tunnel and tube ideas. F-Zero GX takes those ideas for it's tracks and improves on it! Sorry to go on and on about that game, but it seriously is a diamond in the rough that needs to be recognized!
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Mario Kart 64
I loved this game back in the day, but nostalgia is a hell of a drug and oh how do some games age worse than others. This review does a nice job summarizing how it is to revisit: http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mario-kart-64-virtual-console-review/1100-6165002/
Re: Demo for Super Smash Bros. 3DS Announced for North America and Europe
@XChaosMagicianX thank you so much! I redeemed 2nd code.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Lylat Wars / Star Fox 64
@Lunapplebloom, Star Fox 64 3D bettered everything except for the voice acting and music. They should have included an option for the original voices/music. The original stumbled upon perfect camp value that is easy to get nostalgic over.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Bomberman 64
Thank you NintendoLife for linking to each update on the news feed so people can see this feature!
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Mario Party
@Samuel-Flutter That's a funny story. I was actually thrown off for a second by the 3 in the dice when I saw this box art just now for the first time in a long time.
NintendoLife, here's another cry for having this feature linked somewhere on the front page. It's a shame for such a brilliantly designed feature to be forgotten so quickly. Just compare the participation when it was linked during the first two games.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: ISS 64
@Jahir, I think it would be great to have a few reviews in other languages. Even if a lot of this site's readers couldn't read them as easily, it would represent that the Nintendo 64 was enjoyed all over the world, not just by English speaking players!
Re: Feature: The Nintendo 64 Controller and the Rise of 3D Gaming
@Franklin, NintendoLife made a mistake on the Saturn controller predating the Nintendo 64 controller. I fact checked it because I remember reading somewhere that when the N64 controller was unveiled, Sega and Sony quickly made their own controller joystick versions. Check out the release dates below:
Nintendo 64: June 23, 1996: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_64
Saturn 3D Control Pad: July 5, 1996: http://segaretro.org/3D_Control_Pad
@yuwarite, maybe N64 will never be retro to you personally, but you've got to be considerate of other generations of gamers. The epitome of retro video games for me is the NES, but I know that wouldn't be considered retro to many fans that are older than me.
Re: Nintendo 64x64: Blast Corps
NintendoLife, you need to put this feature somewhere back on the front page so people will continue to participate! This is too cool of an idea to get lost at sea.
Re: Super Mario 64
I agree that this feature is a brilliant idea. It's fun to read concise thoughts on a game as well as a fun challenge to write my own feelings about each game. It would be cool to have some sort of barometer on what each score signifies. I personally like to use a scale where 5/10 represents 'average, nothing special, but not too painful to play'. I bet my scores will be lower than the average.