Yosher

Really makes me wonder what they're going to show off tomorrow... I can't imagine there really bring enough to fill 60 minutes, but I'm looking forward to it regardless!

Sixty minutes.. only Sakurai could fill an entire 60 minute Direct about one game and still keep it exciting. I'll tune in. Though I'll be watching about an hour later since I'll be at work still when it starts.

@Dr_Lugae I know that's the case for this game, but no performance issues doesn't mean the other points I mentioned about it are suddenly not true. I need them to treat the games with the full respect they deserve. That means giving developers time to make them fully shine. Including making the world actually look good, polishing animations, and include voice acting where it's sorely needed (or just not include cutscenes at all where voice acting is clearly needed).

Once they do that, I'll be able to look past the pricing, and the forced gimmicks. Because the former would be less bad since they'll actually start feeling like premium games and not just be priced like premium games, and the latter is a personal issue that I'll be able to deal with at that point.

I merely mentioned the performance issues because it's a thing that should never have happened to begin with. Not to the degree that they did happen. And it has severely damaged my already damaged opinion on this company and how they treat this series. It's now up to them to fix that damage. Which, as I've said, needs them to actually treat these games like the premium products they price them as. Which I also fully expect them to not do because they don't have much reason to.

For real though, please don't mind me. I'm an incredibly stubborn mule on these things, I'm well aware of that. I try not to judge others on how they spend their money. Though I personally wish they'd spend it differently for message sending, everyone is free to buy whatever they want with their own hard earned money, and if they do buy Pokémon games, I sincerely wish them all the fun in the world with these games. I'll just not be one of them, at least not until the developers improve their own stance on these games. That's all.

@LastFootnote I did pre order it, but the September direct where they announced the way too expensive DLC before the game even released made me cancel it. I did buy and play Arceus, and that was enjoyable. But this one just seems like another cash cow to me now.

Also I'm not really seeing the effort as much as I'd like. The environments still look bad, and the lack of voice acting in certain cutscenes is still very grating. Pokémon being in places they make sense to be in doesn't mean that much to me, since that's more common sense than putting in effort.

Sure, the game seems to be handled better than the average Pokémon game these days. But that doesn't mean it couldn't still use more time in the oven. They keep releasing half baked games, and I just don't want to support half work.

Also there seems to be a big emphasis on mega evolutions, which uh, yeah no thanks.

If I ever find it for a relatively cheap price, I'll consider getting it. But I doubt I'll ever find it for that cheap.

You enjoy the game though! Don't let my negative feelings to the game stop you from enjoying it to the fullest.

@Dr_Lugae Fair, I'll note them down for you.

Poor graphics- I don't care about reused assets, but there's no excuse for the graphics being so bad. Certainly there's some good looking things, but too much of the environment also just doesn't look good.

Performance issues and glitches- if a game looks bad, I would like it to at least perform well. Which it only does, relatively, on Switch 2. Which comes with an extra price tag for the upgrade. Great. Everyone knows the glitchy state Scarlet and Violet cane out in too. That should never have happened, and to me proves that all they care about is making as much money with as little effort as possible.

Lack of voice acting- I don't really care too much if there's no full on voice acting, but having cutscenes that look tailor made with voice acting in mind, and then not using voice acting, makes it feel like an incomplete product and takes me out of the immersion.

Animations- not all the animations look bad, but some of it just looks God awful. Don't have any specific examples from this particular game, but Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet had a scene where a legendary just flew across the screen in their default animation pose. I'm not sure if that's still the case here, but I'd be surprise if there wasn't weird stuff like that in here. In the regular turn based games, the animations all look rather lifeless too. Yes I'm a Stadium animation stan, no I don't think the animations should all be that long, but to take notes from Stadium and give them life. I'll note however that the animation I've seen from this particular game thus far has been decent-ish at least.

Forced gimmicks- I just do not care about stuff like Z moves, Dynamax, or this game's Mega evolutions. They make Pokémon feel more like tools of war rather than wild creatures the trainers are.. well, training. Even if the player doesn't use it, opponents still will, so it's not something that can be ignored.

Dexit- while not necessarily bad on its own, and actually understandable why it had to be done, not having every Pokémon in any given game forces the usage of Pokémon HOME which I find too expensive. Which I'll come to in my next point...

Premium price tags- everything Pokémon costs too much. The games are full price, the DLC is expensive and, for the paired games, need to be bought separately. And slapping the annual Pokémon HOME price on top of that (when in my opinion this should at least be free when you have Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack), is just too much. Top it off with constant predatory mobile Pokémon games and the series feels like a cow that should have been dead ages ago because of how much milk she has been forced to give.

I could absolutely live with one or two of the above points. But it's pretty much a constant mix of all this, and it makes the games feel more like shovelware rather than full fledged entries in the biggest media franchise on the planet.

The series deserves so much better, but people keep buying them. And so they have no reason to improve much of anything. And as an old fan of the series, it's just kind of depressing and disheartening to see too many people just accepting it.

Still hoping that anyone who does buy the games has fun with them regardless. Just because I'm a grump about it doesn't mean that's the case for other people after all. As.. is obvious by the sales numbers.

@Dr_Lugae With all due respect, that argument really doesn't fly. Back then, Pokémon was still pretty much in its infancy, and they had no idea whether or not its succes would continue. They had not yet built the empire that they have right now.

Right now, they are much more secure of their future, they have built an enormous juggernaut in Pokémon, so I think it's more than fair to expect more out of them than 25 years ago.

Also, reusing assets is not a bad thing. Majora's Mask reused a ton of Ocarina of Time assets and is still an absolutely wonderful game. Smash Bros has been reusing models and animations since probably Brawl, and every entry is still great with lots of content. Mario Kart Wii reused Double Dash character models as well as stages that were lifted from Double Dash, and was still a phenominal game. Heck, Zelda: Breath of the Wild literally reuses most of Breath of the Wild, but is still an outstanding sequel because they added a ton of cool stuff that made it into a true sequel.

Reusing assets is absolutely not an issue, and I don't recall ever saying it was.

I've only heard of the ball game, I don't recall the other one. I haven't bought either game though. Suppose I should check them out!

@RedfromKanto I'm still afraid it's not going to be enough though. Launch sales may not be the greatest but Pokémon games have legs almost as long as Mega Starmie, so those sales will probably still come.

I guess we'll have to wait and see how things will go though! It's just too early to really tell at the moment.

I can't lie, the Pokémon numbers just makes my brain go "look at so many people settling for less". And it's true, I do wish more people would vote with their wallet, because Pokémon quality really needs to go up.

But on the other hand, I also can't fault people for enjoying games, even flawed ones, no matter how much I wish they would not buy it and finally send them a message.

So here's to all you Pokémon purchasers: I do hope you all manage to enjoy the game(s) despite those flaws. I'm still holding out hope that one day, they will work on improving the quality, but that hope is very dim at this point. But when the quality is there again, I will be happy to jump back onto the Pokémon boat.

I don't know a lot of NES game box arts off the top of my head so this one was tough for me, only a 12 out of 21. Still decent I suppose. Good challenge though!

Both are kinda bad honestly. The Japanese one is boring, the NA one has too much clutter. I chose the NA one tot because the background is a bit more interesting at least, and it's not just peace sign Pikachu with a logo slapped on top.

Considering the price they're asking for the plastic Virtual Boy shell, I think a potential second screen for DS emulation would cost you a second mortgage. Or a third if you already have a mortgage on your house as well. Really hoping they just give an option to play without such a thing, honestly.

Good grief the price of that keyboard is absurd. I'm convinced of the quality of this brand but that feels too steep.

@Dee123 It not happening doesn't mean I don't want it to happen.

@Suketoudara Considering Nintendo does own the franchise partially, I'm just hoping that one day they get sick of the cut corners and demand better. Not sure how much that would help, but I feel it's sorely needed. It's definitely one of the least polished Nintendo exclusive franchises right now.

It's the biggest media franchise. There is absolutely zero reason for them not to include voice acting. I don't have the recent games (aside from Arceus) but I've seen some of the cutscenes. They're absolutely ridiculous without voice acting, it's intensely grating, and it takes you out of the immersion.

They should either include voice acting, or go back to what they're actually good at, making these games with sprite art instead of 3D. Lack of voice acting won't be as bad there.

Man I wish Nintendo would subject Pokémon games to their usual quality control because they really need it.

Nah. I've decided I'm just completely done with modern mainline Pokémon games. They may still win me over if they ever get their act together properly over there with these games, but until then, I'll just be playing generation 1 to 5 instead of I ever feel that itch for mainline Pokémon.

Good to see it still getting (mostly) favorable reviews, from the looks of it. I may not be getting it myself, but I hope everyone who does will have a blast playing this one!

@1UP-HUSKY Came here to say this. It's a good machine, but not much of a new invention.

It's the UK, so not really surprising I think.

@Untempered-Link Love your avatar, by the way.

@Dogorilla Seconded. I think it looks pretty solid thus far, promising at the very least. It's an Avatar game that actually looks like it has charm and care put into it, and I feel like if this game does well, it could even lead to a whole new era of Avatar games that are of (hopefully) similar high quality.

Really hoping this will be good. Avatar is a series that definitely deserves a good game for once.

Also going for the NA/EU one because it's just a bit more interesting to look at.

Just what we needed, another Goku.

Cool though, I guess.

It's okay I still love my horribly inefficient Mario space adventure game.

Come on man. This is beyond ridiculous at this point.

I'm honestly still not really a fan of this animation style. Give me the style that was used in the Camelot GameCube Mario sports game intro cutscenes, please.

It is good to see them ensuring the game is as good as can be right out of the gates. Will be happy to play this one when it comes out. The demo was really good.

Top tier soundtrack, even better game. Would recommend.

A 9, and the only reason I'm not giving it a 10 is because they didn't add much extra, and the price is still a little hard to swallow.

But these are still amazing games that I would encourage anyone to try, regardless.

Both are good, but I picked NA for being just a little more unique.

@benmalsky198 I was simply stating my opinion. This entire article is an opinion, and I was merely stating how I feel on the matter. You're completely free to have your own opinion too. Go nuts.

Though can you please not spam several messages in a row? You can say all you have to say to me in one singular message.

@benmalsky198 I beg to differ, honestly. Their whole appearance looks really weird, and I can't say I care for their blocky course either. It's like putting a banana in a bowl full of apples. Sure they're both fruits, but the banana sticks out like a sore thumb.

As for the open world aspect. It's not that which I don't like. I love the idea of exploring an open world like that. The problem, in my opinion, lies with it being forced into races too. If it was exclusive to Knockout Tour, that would be great, but it's forced into Grand Prix too, and that's just too much.

Though I must say I would like the open world to be more alive too. And I don't mean just NPC characters walking, walking, or driving around. Have them do more things. And bring a greater variety too. You really only see Shy Guys, Toads and Yoshis walking the streets, and Koopas driving cars. There are so many species they can still pull from in the greater Mario universe, it really makes no sense for every friendly NPC to be just these few. If you do the open world thing, I'd say do it right. It's not bad, but it is kind of half baked. I don't really get the feeling of being in a living, breathing world when exploring this one. They can do much better.

I just can't really bring myself to care much for Sonic characters anymore these days, honestly. And that is a big part of these mascot racers for me. I want to feel a connection to the characters I'm racing with or against. On that note, Mario wins for me every single time their games are pitted against each other.

That said, I will say Mario Kart World is a game I've put down way too quickly for a Mario Kart game. I think it's due to the whole intermission thing, really. I just don't care about driving to the next course every time. It's... not necessarily boring, but it's also not nearly as exciting as previous Mario Kart games as a result.

I've played the Sonic demo, and yeah I can absolutely see that game just being better. I might pick it up sometime down the line. As said, the character lineup is a big part of these games for me, and Sonic characters just aren't it for me. The DLC characters largely don't do much for me either. The presence of Minecraft characters even ruins it for me partially, they feel so out of place. The only characters I care about that are coming, are Mega Man and Avatar TLA characters, the latter of which also feel kind of weird to have present here, I feel.

Ignoring the character department though, I definitely think Sonic should take the win on this one. Though I think if I want to get my fun racer fix, I'll probably just pick up any previous Mario Kart and go with that. Kirby will fill that role nicely too when it drops. And then when I feel this game is discounted enough, and depending on the DLC pricing and all, I might pick up Sonic.

I got it for a cheaper price from Amazon. I didn't want to pay more than 60 bucks for it, ended up paying like only 52 for it. Quite happy with the purchase!

I arrived at the theme park in DK Bananza and somehow lost interest to keep going for now. So that one's gonna be put on hold now.

I got in both Final Fantasy Tactics and Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 though. I'll definitely be playing those!

@Pillowpants Based selection. 🫡

I always find it silly when they count so many characters, but a good amount of them are just different versions of Goku. And not even just transformations, there's various Gokus from different eras of Dragonball, and yeah then it gets worse when you count all the transformations as well.

The game still has an impressive amount of characters regardless, though. I just hope there'll be more actual new characters and not Goku #128, #129 and #130.

I've got my copy ordered, it should arrive next week. Looking forward to launching back into space with these two games. Particularly Galaxy 2, for obvious reasons. It's good to see they perform so well, but who was really doubting that? Nintendo knows how to polish their releases, usually.

I hate everything about this. Sure, it can create cool and cute stuff.... but there's just so many factors about this that make this entirely wrong. Generative AI should be banned. But it's probably not going anywhere at this point.

We won't know what's real anymore before long. AI makes me real sad.

This has me thinking. What's stopping developers from making Switch 1 Joy-Con function as a mouse? I mean, aside from probably being more uncomfortable to use as one and the lack of a C button, don't they pretty much have the same functionality as Switch 2 Joy-Con?

A game like this is a slap in the face for the Fire Emblem franchise, and no Fire Emblem fan should ever support something like this.

Just my two cents.

People here know I'm a huge Yoshi fan, but if this game was Yoshi themed instead I would have never bothered either and would probably have thrown a massive hissyfit in the announcement article. Or in the review. Or both. Either way, garbage game, skip, play real Fire Emblem.

Whenever I get the choice, I always go for third person. I don't know what it is about first person, but I just can't get into games from a first person perspective. I've yet to finish a single first person perspective game.

Honestly, I never really saw the appeal of the way Mario Galaxy does two player mode. Who wants to be the one to gather stuff and such for player 1? I know it's meant more for kids, but I can't even really imagine kids of any age finding any engagement in it.

If I were that kid I'd probably ask to play another game. Mouse controls or no. And of the kid is young enough to find enjoyment in it.. as the older player I'd be more worried about the kid tossing their controller somewhere.

But hey maybe I'm wrong and there are co-star enthusiasts! And Galaxy 2 at least attaches it to the orange Luma so that at least the second player feels like they're controlling a character too and not just a cursor.

It looks pretty cute honestly. One to keep an eye on.

Will there be a review of this one on NintendoLife?

Awesome. I still have my Wii copies and 3D All Stars but I still bought this collection. I found it for relatively cheap. Looking forward to playing these again! Particularly Galaxy 2, for obvious reasons.

I have this one. It is an absolute thing of beauty. It is expensive, sure, but it's only a one time purchase. I'm happy with mine, really!

Honestly, both of these are pretty solid.

I went with EU/NA though, because the Japanese one could really use a bit of a border I feel. It feels a bit naked without something like that, when you see these two side by side.

Donkey Kong Bananza for me.

I have to admit it has indeed been growing on me more than I thought it would.

Also some Stardew Valley and Dragon Ball FighterZ.

I was just thinking if we'd see another Splatfest, the last one feels so long ago by now.

Last time I picked zombies, dunno what I'll choose this time yet.