World

I love that we're getting Juno First! I wonder what that means for other Konami games published by someone else in NA (yes, I want ACA Amidar).
And Gulkave has a neat weapon system, and then there's Assault Suits Leynos 2! A pretty good week for STG fans!

Cool! I can't speak to the other games, but Wall of Fire is pretty good, and honestly it's an ideal intro to RoTK because there's a glitch (at least in the original) that lets you have infinite soldiers which you can use if you just want to get your feet wet in the series.

Cool! These are super cute!

@CRB1984 Ooh, nice comparison! Yeah, I can definitely see it!

@GregamanX Oh, good choice! I love Lunistice! And you're right that it nails the PS1 aesthetic.

Nothing on Switch this weekend, but I'm playing Taisho x Alice on Steam as I picked up all the episodes in the recent Steam VN sale.

I'm enjoying it! It's super bantery and a bit more bawdy than the other otomes I've played which, as a reader of contemporary romance novels as well as otomes, I like.

The main character is also one of the most aggressive otome heroines I've ever seen; she is just constantly hitting on the love interest right from the very beginning. There have been a few eyebrow-raising parts, but so far nothing that would make me stop playing. I'm on the second route and it's a pretty fast read so far so I guess it's whatever the otome equivalent of a page-turner would be.

@Thirteen1355 Oh yeah definitely! I'm with you on the value of "clones" too. They're not all amazing, but some pretty big games started as pretty clear homages to other things (e.g., Stardew Valley).

This weekend I'm playing the generically named Ultimate Shooting Collection for Wii. I recently learned it is actually a collection of three Milestone shmups: Karous, Radirgy, and Chaos Field.

I bought it for Radirgy, but I find I like the other two more than I thought I would, especially Chaos Field which is essentially a boss rush game and I never enjoy that mode in games. Karous' light RPG elements are neat too.

I like both of these! Picross is always fun (although I liked the SFC Mario Picross more than this one) and DK '94 was too hard for me, but I did enjoy what I played of it.

Fate? Like...the game on my computer in the 2000s Fate? It seems a bit pricey for what I remember of Fate but that's a genuine surprise. Huh. I might check that one out.

Majima earned this win; love that for him (and I still can't get over that Pirate Yakuza key art; like, that is a real thing that exists, what a gift).

That's a shame as I thought these games seemed kind of quirky, but I'm part of the problem in this case. I was kind of interested in both of these games, but to me the Rabbids have to be hands-down the most hideous character designs in gaming history to me. They're so repulsive that I just was never able to give either of these games a chance at all.

I've ordered one game from them (Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours) and I did eventually get it, but the timeline was ridiculous (pre-order Dec 2022 to get it...early this year??? lol).

I wouldn't say it was malicious or an attempt to scam or anything and so I have no bad feelings toward SLG, but this is clearly a company not able to currently operate at the scale they want to and that looks pretty unprofessional to me. I haven't ordered anything else from them and likely won't.

No, I don't really do that with consoles. And as Nintendo themselves have said backwards compatibility won't be 1:1, I'd like to have both on hand.

Honestly, none. The only revival I'd want at this point is if they did something with Pokemon Pikachu. Maybe turn it into a Switch app or re-release the physical or add Pokemon or something.

I'd love for Game Freak to announce a moratorium on remakes so fans will stop speculating on "ooh, which game have I already played will I get to play again." It's just not a vibe I can really comprehend.

However, I think the same-generation sequels are cool and the Legends games are a genuinely neat twist on the "remake" formula in that we're revisiting regions but with a whole new angle.

Wow, this looks great! I didn't mind most of the games before (aside from the casino level), but this looks like a massive improvement. And Rextro's new in-game design gives Gon vibes.

Wow! That is...concerning. Glad I kept putting off buying Rugrats!

This is not a surprising result. The layoffs are unfortunate (and of course it continues to be infuriating that it's never the decision-makers who suffer), but this game reeked of soulless corporate depravity to an extent that it made your average EA/Ubisoft game look like a true work of art.

I both want this and feel like that ship has more or less sailed. I hate subscriptions, but it seems like most don't agree! I say why not both?

Cool! I'm glad it finally has a release date on Switch. As others have said it's on Evercade, but I have wanted to play it on Switch as that's the more convenient console for me.

I love the Switch OLED, but regarding Switch 2 (which I intend to buy) I will think about this "issue" for one second and then never again.

This is great! I wouldn't be in favor of banning all shovelware because how would we even define that, but banning AI-generated slop seems like a good move. A better curated store gets more visits and sales; that's pretty simple.

@Zuljaras Oh that screenshot looks really cool! Good luck on improving your game!

This weekend I'm playing Smoothcade, a game I found on the eShop this week and knew nothing about. It's a really nice "clear the screen" type game like Bubble Bobble.

@rvcolem1 Haha, that's definitely fair! If you ever have access to it though, it's a good one for that arcade/puzzle air hockey vibe with Sanrio characters.

@SoIDecidedTo As others have said, just enjoy the game if you think you'd like it! Worrying about what others will think is a sad way to live (and mostly they are not thinking about you at all).

@rvcolem1 It's not really hockey, but it's a bit like air hockey: have you ever played Sanrio World Smash Ball for Super Famicom? I'm a lifelong Sanrio fan and will usually at least attempt to play their games; that was my favorite Sanrio game for years until recently they decided to start knocking it out of the park first with their rhythm game (Happiness Parade) and now this game.

I honestly thought about going for Hello Kitty Island Adventure, but I know I won't have time to play it at the moment so I'm holding off.

This weekend, I've been playing one of my winter comfort games, Felix the Cat on Switch and just alternating between the versions.

One of my all-time favorite games! It's just perfect. I was sort of hoping we'd see some sort of revival of it this generation, but I'm honestly not complaining to see the original either! It's so good 😭

I'm definitely interested in Strania! And Zanac, but I suspect like all Eggconsole games it'll be too hard for me.

Oooh, what a cool announcement! Time to get hooked on/be bad at Kunio no Oden!

@MrCarlos46 Yeah, maybe. That would make sense too. I was thinking more that Nintendo will likely be timing it with their eye on avoiding too much decline in OG Switch sales.

While the fans and shareholders want this new console, the fact is that the Switch is a proven success and the Switch 2 isn't. For all their goofy ideas, this era of Nintendo is more conservative and has shown they love a sure thing (evidenced also by just calling it "Switch 2"). So you could be right, but I get a reluctance out of Nintendo regarding the information we've seen so far which makes me think the release date might be later than expected.

I could see it being a bit later out this time, as this is a very different Nintendo. Last time they were looking to push past the Wii U, but the Switch was a massive success; it seems clear they are trying to be careful to launch the new console at a time that won't hurt sales that much.

Yeah, I think they're right. The earliest adopters won't care and unlike the 3DS it's in a class where people would (I think?) expect to pay a bit more.

I think Nintendo should be mindful of not pricing too close to a Steam Deck, as that seemed to be their real competition this past generation. Given the choice between the two if they cost the same, I'd guess people would go with the Steam Deck but who knows!

This weekend, I'll probably be playing Pac-Man Museum+. I love playing the original Pac-Man in the winter time so mostly that, but perhaps picking around a bit with the other games as well. It's really a great little retro collection and possibly my favorite one on the Switch.

I mean, this isn't a new thing for Nintendo. Their handhelds have (I think?) all had some form of backwards compatibility, and the Gamecube to Wii U era all had backwards compatibility with the past generation.

Either way, I think it's essential, but I don't think is Nintendo "getting with the times" so much as just doing their usual thing.

This is great. The name suggests Nintendo read the room and knew that a creative name would confuse consumers and lead to another Wii U.

As much as I'd have loved something super creative and more Nintendoish, that was not going to be a win for them. They were understandably reluctant to put out a new console because of the Switch's success, so the answer was clearly another Switch.

I honestly have no complaints, just based on the announcement itself!

I think this is great. Video game fans can be dangerously entitled, and frankly I'm tired of the idea that we all have to just listen to hateful jerks spew garbage out of their mouths all the time because of some vague idea of "free speech."
And ultimately it's the employees of the companies who are the ones that take the heat for these bad actors. If the company protects them, they're happier and we possibly get better games as a result. I hope other companies follow suit.

I'm mostly doing other things this weekend, but the game I have been playing here and there is Burger Race. It's pretty basic in terms of modes (the usual time attack, single race, grand prix setup), but it handles well and the hook (you play as various burgers and other fast food restaurant staples like fries, chicken nuggets, etc.) is too good. I've been mainly playing the Time Attack mode, which has an online leaderboard.

I mean, the 3DS XL was too big for me to use comfortably (as is the Switch itself) so honestly I don't care. Whatever the dimensions, the results are going to be awkward and weird for me to hold and I have just learned to live with that reality.

Hyped for Burger Race personally; it's just such an absurd concept and Sat-Box is generally reliable for mid-tier party games, so I think it'll be okay.

What! That's so exciting! It looks great! I got kind of burned out on shmups after playing a few too many on Switch, but this might get me back into them.

(Also! Can we get Border Down please???)

That's cool; the release pace on the chapters is ridiculous, but I think he's aware of the goodwill he's built up online so he feels no pressure to rush anything. I know I'll play 3 & 4 when they are released.

This feels...untrue? Like it doesn't seem very Nintendo logic to me. The poor sales probably did it, but that other stuff just seems like a standard gamer fantasy of "the woke" killing franchises.

That being said, I'm also of the opinion that not every franchise needs to be revived. Companies should be allowed to grow and change over time and make new things without being chained to the past all the time. So even if this isn't true, it's fine if there's no more Punch Out. (But that being said it's also fine if they give the IP to a fresh dev who has a good idea what to do with it too. I just like new ideas, honestly.)

While I generally feel like acquisitions are almost always bad for consumers, with Digital Eclipse and Nightdive Atari really did a great job pulling together developers that were kind of naturally aligned to what modern Atari was attempting anyway.

I'm really impressed with their recent projects, especially the Karateka and Llamasoft collections, along with Tetris Forever. They definitely are bringing a refreshing take to retro collections lately and I am here for it!

The eShop has a lot of problems with garbage games flooding the platform and making it unusable, but the fixes are complex because there are different bad actors. Like they could just ban the asset flips and the AI slop and nothing of value would be lost.

But what of companies that just make bad games (I'm thinking of the indies on the eShop that regularly pump out mediocre-to-bad games that are in fact made by real people) or companies that publish games that are sometimes decent but use scummy promotion tactics (Red.Deer Games and their million "special edition" versions of games)? Review scores would solve the former, and ability to block publishers would solve the latter, but how much work is Nintendo realistically going to put into fixing something that is a huge moneymaker for them? I don't know.

Maybe the Switch 2 eShop will at least bring back the concept of shop music.

I've never played Pikmin and now I'm more convinced that was the right decision haha

For a company that has such wholesome branding, Nintendo sure cooks up some pure nightmare fuel from time to time.

@Anti-Matter What! I didn't know Naoki and those other DDR producers left Konami! That's really unfortunate, as I loved all those classic songs. And it sounds like DDR World isn't great, which is unfortunate as for a while it felt like DDR could just keep making games forever and they'd all be good.

I didn't realize Sega had a rhythm game (well beyond Samba di Amigo)! That's cool. And Sound Voltex really looks like a whole new generation of rhythm game! I looked up some footage online and, wow, it looks intense (the tilt mechanic looks fun though, to be honest).

@Anti-Matter I used to play DDR in arcades all the time, but over the years it seems like the places where those machines were just kind of disappeared. I also played a lot on PS2 (I had Supernovas 1 & 2 and DDR X), but stopped when my friends stopped playing it with me.

I still like rhythm games, although I've never been any good at the "tap the button on the controller" or whatever ones. It always felt more natural to "feel" the steps on the platform like DDR.

The last rhythm game I played was Hello Kitty: Happiness Parade. It's a controller-based one, but I really enjoyed it.

Honestly, I expect nothing from this announcement. I think it'll just be a "hey, this does exist and is real. More to come in the near future."

Nintendo is clearly happy with the status quo and would otherwise be in no rush to launch a new console. And why wouldn't they? The Switch has done incredibly well and a new console launch will inevitably disrupt that, so I can understand why they'd drag their feet on this.

I think this announcement will mainly be to show investors and to an extent fans who only care about the "next big thing" that the Switch 2 is in fact real.

I'm really curious how this will be deployed if it happens at all. Will it be an app?

I do half-wonder if they're planning some kind of live service digital-only console like what Atari did with their Atari VCS. Might that have something to do with the Super Game project as well?

Regardless I think it's interesting to speculate and honestly if it means we get Sega games that aren't Genesis games, it'll be good.

Mine was Birushana: Rising Flower of Genpei at a little over 70 hours with 100% completion.
One of the longest otomes I've ever played (second only to Hakuoki and I guess Hana Awase if you count all four volumes as one game), but it's good and "the Genpei War...but maybe also magic?" made for an interesting setting.