ZZalapski

As long as there isn't a stage that resembles the Belfry of Bruges, the elephantine characters should be okay.

@Ability-King-KK Not sure where you got the villainous part — LeBron's charitable efforts are well-documented — but if one is arguably the very best like no one ever was at what he does, arrogance and egotism is more understandable.

NA/Eur for me, as it does a better job at conveying what the game is about. Incidentally, the Japan visual was used on the underside of the box for the Pokémon Stadium N64 set (game + console + two controllers + Transfer Pak). The console was the normal gray color; if that packaging was done today, the console would have Pokémon-specific visuals.

I remember letting my grad school roommate talk me into buying that edition at Target, weakly protesting that it would prolong my time in academia. I was right.

Finished the story mode of Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe last night. What a thoroughly enjoyable game (notwithstanding the somewhat anticlimactic ending), and there's so much more about that world that I'd like to know. Hope we see a sequel from Trinket Studios at some point.

Good article.

People who think along the lines of how Deku Deals is the panacea to this problem should consider the possibility that the most casual of gamers — what I'd guess to be the majority of the Switch's userbase and Nintendo's target market — do not use it and probably never will.

What we (people who'd go to the trouble of commenting on NL articles) would consider minimal research is something they just don't have time for in their lives.

For the Switch, the dearth of hockey games is more inexplicable than the paucity of American football games. Hockey is (presumably) easier to code because there are fewer players, and its action is more like a video game anyway. Hell, even something like Mario Hockey that's as mediocre as Mario Tennis Aces or Mario Strikers Battle League would be better than...<checks Deku Deals>...Super Blood Hockey.

I don't know if it's accurate to say that Blake Martinez retired "in the middle of a guaranteed, multi-million dollar NFL contract" — NFL contracts are generally not guaranteed — but it's not too unusual to see NFL players retire young, with how the sport is a meat grinder.

The question is why this? With a degree from Stanford University, a top-5 US school, he could've gone into any number of post-NFL pursuits that would've allowed him to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, but he chose to (allegedly) scam people over a kids' card game? And he was bad at it! He did something that was so easily detected that he got busted only about a year into his operation!

Truly, this is the stupidest timeline.

"Official Ash Ketchum obituary"? Just because he's no longer the main character doesn't mean he's dead, ffs.

This happened to me when I bought a used copy of Arkanoid from an Amazon reseller. Fortunately, Amazon replaced it with a new and sealed one.

I'm playing Battle Chef Brigade now. It's quite charming, and its unique mix of genres makes it stand out even in the Switch's catalog (in a good way).

I think I'll wait until my Switch collection has stabilized (currently at a few...hundred) before figuring out how to display them.

(Look, I picked up bad habits during the pandemic, okay?)

@Princess_Lilly What does "no asset flips or cheap tricks" mean exactly in this context?

Props for showing Battle Chef Brigade Deluxe in your photo of the eShop. I'm playing that now, and it's quite a unique fusion of action RPG (fighting monsters with weapons and magic) and puzzler (rotating elements in a 4x4 grid to line up combos in the course of cooking the monster carcasses into scrumptious dishes).

"This 16-bit collection launched on 14th July 2023 in Japan, meaning this classic compilation is 30 years old."

@AlanaHagues, are you writing this from the future? If so, can you please tell us when the Switch Pro finally came out, so we can prepare accordingly? Thanks!

Wow, DF found this to be worse than Pokémon Scarlet/Violet.

@Tasuki Srsly, if you can afford a Switch, you can spring $5 for canned air.

It's absolutely embarrassing that two of these has come out since the last new Donkey Kong game. Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves.

@Sisilly_G Well, we have suggested to Bob that maybe he should eat a salad and floss his teeth once in a while. I mean, yeesh.

@Sisilly_G Some of my nudist friends keep themselves in shape and practice good hygiene, thank you very much.

At least it'd be entertaining if someone tried to use that word in a Scrabble game.

@CharlieGirl Did the UK version include a desktop stand-up display and the soundtrack CD like the Japanese version did? I went to Japan just to get those extras that weren't in the US version.

Okay, that's not true — the timing of my trip was coincidental — but the Japanese version is pretty sweet.

@HammerGalladeBro You can tell your sister that Cuphead is also available at retail at Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target, although whether it can be found at a particular store may be more of a crapshoot.

@HammerGalladeBro As of this writing, Tetris Effect is available at Target, and it sounds like Amazon will have it back in stock themselves.

Yeah, but how many of them are OSHA-compliant?
https://youtu.be/8nRC7PdNsHg

@theModestMouse It's okay to let people be enthusiastic about things without sounding like a *****, you know.

The mention of the jack-in-the-box reminds me of "The Steadfast Tin Soldier" segment from Fantasia 2000. Wouldn't be surprised if that was a source of inspiration for this game's developers.

@Thief Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions. In that context, your assessment is a bit more sensible, even if I disagree with the metrics you use. Not that you need affirmation from an Internet rando, of course, but I appreciate your elaboration.

@Thief Going by your stated intent to not buy this game, how can you say this game is bad if you haven't played it?

@Thief It's logical to not buy a game because you find enough of its features lacking (or if it's just not your bag), but no one is arguing that this game is bad, at least if OpenCritic is any indication.

Man, I'm glad I got the jones for speculative collecting out of my system when I stopped buying baseball cards.

@shoeses Your last sentence can be applied to many games besides Tetris 99.

This will be Kirby's 5th Tetris 99 theme, including three out of the last four. Nothing wrong with Kirby getting a theme for each game, but what about themes for Splatoon 3 or Pokémon Scarlet/Violet?

@Divide_and_Wander "Non!"

They should've gone all the way and have an actual gorilla throw barrels at you from five stories above on a construction site. Cowards.

We should feel lucky that they didn't ask about Super Smash Bros.: the Movie as the culmination of the Nintendo cinematic universe. Which would pretty much be the worst idea ever, because I don't know how many Fire Emblem movies the world can handle.

@HammerGalladeBro Angry Kirby explained:
https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/nintendo-reveals-that-kirby-is-angry-in-american-releases-due-to-cost-of-insulin/

@OldManHermit The only possibly acceptable remake would be a Muppet version, with Cary Elwes as the lone human (the grandfather).

"Is there a cinematic or televisual icon that hasn't returned in a surprise sequel, multiverse cameo, or limited streaming series in the last few years?"

Anyone from "The Princess Bride". Let's hope that doesn't change, because it's perfect the way it is now.

looks at product page for Pretty Girls Game Collection
Yup, that's exactly what I thought it'd be.

I picked the Japan cover art after reading this article:
https://hard-drive.net/hd/video-games/shy-guy-still-living-good-life-off-super-mario-bros-2-residuals/

@CharlieGirl G*dammit, you did it again, lol.

I remember this game mainly because of @CharlieGirl 's fantastic comment when it was first reported here.

@sonicmeerkat That took me over a year of playing almost every day; with the Tetris 99 cartridge, I doubled the daily challenges available. The upshot is that my Tetris game significantly improved. Even won a few games in the standard battle royale mode.

@Link-Hero So Pokémon reside in contraptions that fit inside your hand, violate laws of nature, and possess powers beyond human comprehension, but them verbalizing their names is a bridge too far for you? That's funny.
Also, there are Pokémon (e.g., Charizard) that have animalistic roars instead of saying their names, at least in the English dub.

@mariomaster96 That moment ruined the movie for me, tbh.

For something that goes this far into the weeds to simulate the experience of learning to skateboard, wouldn't one rather, I dunno, actually learn to skateboard?

Generally, wouldn't a Rock Tera type make more sense for a Decidueye? Flying Tera would deter Bug attacks (and Ground, but Grass is already resistant to those), but Rock Tera is resistant to more types — Bug, Ice, Fire, and Flying — that would otherwise be advantageous against Decidueye.

Will Detective Pikachu 2 try to solve the mystery of how the world's most valuable media franchise churns out video games with laughably amateurish technical performances? Because I'd watch that.

Hypothetical Pokémon Love profile:
"POKÉMON TEAM: six Smeargle, all with different Sketched moves
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: had a winning streak composed of four rage quits and two death threats received
ANYTHING ELSE? Line goes counterclockwise around the block, ladies."

Would've been fun if they had Captain Pikachu look more like the OG Fat Pikachu from the Game Boy games as further differentiation from Ash's Pikachu.
At least Ikue Ōtani will still maintain her revenue stream from this franchise.