Zaruboggan

Every game I play is for the whole experience, and I expect every piece to stand up to the same level of quality. So if there's a story, I expect the story to be as good as the rest of it.

For Zelda, that's not always the case. I appreciated the characters and beats of Wind Waker, Skyward Sword, and Twilight Princess enough for the events to have been part of the main draw, but BotW and its sequel failed both to tell a decent story and to do it in a compelling way.

As for the splitting timeline nonsense, it's nonsense.

Started up Tomodachi Life and debating who is going to populate the island. So far, I'm thinking LEGO Island's Brickster, Neva from Neva, Witch Hat Atelier's Qifrey, and I haven't the slightest idea who else. We'll see.

Still playing Ghost of Yotei, and the co-op group has also started Slay the Spire 2. Building a gym in my brother's copy of Pokopia.

Reading Daughter of Crows by Mark Lawrence.

Kieth for Smash

I played this co-op. IIRC one person drove, one person shot? I didn't have to engage with the combo controls as a result.

It was okay. We had fun and beat it, but TBH I think this was the title that proved they really didn't know what to do with Star Fox anymore. Ultimately, I left the game disappointed.

I'm interested at that price point.

That said, the single-player Splatoon I want would have us exploring the city in an open (and vertical) play space with all of the fresh fashion, characters, and aesthetics the game is known for. You know, a space made for all the movement options of Splatoon.

Hippowdon's great, love that guy

Good reminder to pick up Ooo, Deadzone Rogue, and Battle Suit Aces!

Another busy weekend, but at least I'm not sick! I heard this is one of the worst cold/flu seasons in 25 years, and boy, I feel it.

Played some Ghost of Yotei: Legends and Pokemon Pokopia last night. Tried platinum difficulty in the former and continued working on building our take on the Cerulean Gym in the latter.

I'd like to pick up Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, as well as The Gecko Gods, but I don't want to let Screamer pass me by... We'll see. No time to play them, anyhow.

Nothing less than a proper sequel to Star Fox Assault. You haven't lived until you've mounted your buddy's Arwing and planted a Fireburst Pod on the wing just as you fly over your foes.
Assault 2 could truly be Nintendo's BF--Battlefield or Battlefront. Put so many hours into the local multiplayer back on the Cube.

Assault was a genuine evolution of the franchise and none of the other games have come close.

Looking forward to the recommendations! I don't think I have any new ones to offer, alas.

Feeling better, so we're getting back to Ghost of Yotei: Legends. But we've also got a busy weekend ahead of us, so I don't expect we'll get too much game time in.

Might also do some co-op Pokopia building. We'll see what time allows!

Super fun game! Take my word for it, if you play, DON'T SAVE your team super music mode. Use it at every possible instance for the most possible fun!

This one's been on my Steam watchlist. I hope it comes together beautifully!

F2P BS is an instant turnoff. If I want to play competitive, I'll stick to alternatives. More options. No storage limitations. No battle passes, no paid cosmetics, no supporting aggressive monetization.

No thanks.

I'm reminded of when Mass Effect 3 came out on Wii U for full price when the three game collection was already on sale for the other consoles.
This certainly isn't as bad as that, since it is technically this price on Steam and it does come with the DLC, but damn. $80 for a game that came out years ago and is regularly on sale is stark.

Just in time for my 11 hour flight to Japan!

I played Mega Mix last time I went, so this seems appropriate.

Gecko Gods for me! 4/16, $19.99.
Probably Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, but that depends on how many friends pick it up.

Gang, I don't do well with Horror games, but I had to play this when back when it came out on PS5. Yeah, it's scary as heck when you have to close your eyes at a freaky clay monster running and screaming towards you...
But I think it was worth the effort!

Nothing. Picked up a bug while at PAX East, so my weekend will be mostly counting the days until I'm well. Doctor says it could last in the 10-14 day range, but be as bad as 2-4 weeks.
Too bad. I've got stuff I want to do!

As for DS/3DS recommendations that are more hidden gems than Pushmo, I will make an effort:
DS
LostMagic (draw spells, command army of monsters)
Puchi Puchi Virus (puzzle game about viruses, but not Trauma Center)
Puzzle de Harvest Moon (fun with friends, light on content)
Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (CyberConnect's neat adventure)
Summon Night Twin Age (Use magic to dodge)
Tenchu Dark Secret (actually a fun sort of puzzle/stealth game)
3DS
Culdcept Revolt
Ever Oasis
Gurumin 3D: A Montserous Adventure
Pokemon Battle Trozei
Style Savvy: Styling Star
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Shadow Wars

Okay, I admit my 3DS selection isn't very hidden gems. But they are games, so that should count for something!

Absolutely fantastic game. Play this with your pals locally whether you pick this up physically or opt to try it out digitally. I promise you'll have a great time. We certainly did.

@benmalsky198 okay.

Highly recommend MotionRec. Short little puzzle platformer out of Japan.

@Oldstalk Counterpoint, this isn't the rest of the industry. This is Nintendo--the best of the best in games.

Why not hold them to the highest standard for movies, too?

It's okay to expect better and more from Nintendo's movies, right?
Like, in all of the comment sections for this movie, it's so much of people saying "mindless fun is fine" and "it's Mario, it was never going to have a good story." Genuinely defending... mediocrity?
Okay?
I mean, we're all broken records here, since we've been saying the same things since the first movie came out. I want a good story. A good story is not unachievable. You can have a good story AND be fun, breakneck, jam-packed, etc. You can have a good story and still have your Star Fox and your Pikmin and, I don't know, Charging Chucks or whatever.
Or we can just keep having...this.
Which, sure, I guess.

I expect I'll watch it eventually, but it won't be in theaters and it's not high on my priority list. Just didn't enjoy the first one enough to be jazzed for the second.

Hopefully they do better by Zelda.

Yeah, naw. This ain't it.

Whatever the heck I can find at PAX! Definitely want to get my hands on Too Many Captains, a co-op game about pressing buttons and pulling levers. I'll consider facing the long lines for Double Fine's Kiln. Might get over to Nullpoint Protocol. We'll see!

Ghost of Yotei will have to wait until I'm home next week.

Lots of good stuff this week! I'll probably be getting Screamer on my ps5, but I might think about the Neopets game just to relive a bit of the childhood play space.

If starting with 4 might make you enjoy the others less because it's so good, surely starting with the worst one is an avenue that should be explored!

As it happens, I started (and stopped) with 5.*

*My brother and I actually had a lot of fun with it lol

Plenty of games I want to play, but alas, I'm away from home for the next 10 days. I've got some books to keep me company, so I'll be finishing Age of Myth, Papyrus, and probably a couple of others. Long work flights are great for getting through books, even if they do a number on my poor old back.

Have fun, everyone!

@demacho Considering I use Japanese in my regular day job, I somehow doubt it. But then, neither of us knows how much English Horii knows, so...what are we doing here? What does it even matter? The relevance of my Japanese level yet eludes me. Since, again, I didn't call Japanese simple.

I am absolutely in for this.

Beautiful read. I got a little misty-eyed when the delivery was made at the end of the game, and I wasn't even the one playing. It's so true that we're a little different every time we revisit Kanto. I was 8 when I first played Pokemon Red. I didn't play it again until I was 32. I would have been...12? when Fire Red came out. Revisited it at 33.

That's a lot of life in between, and a heck of a lot of Pokemon.

Pretty much just Ghost of Yotei this weekend, single player and Legends. I'm about 11 hours into the story, and we just started the multiplayer last night.

I'm disappointed that the one mode is still just two players, which is why we'll be exclusively sticking with Survival again. No big loss. Survival was way more fun.

I'm also disappointed that the mode has to be ugly again. The story maps are so beautiful. I wish we could explore it and sneak into fortresses together.

Curious about Deadzone: Rogue, since I've been on the lookout for a good 3-4 player roguelike FPS. Might check it out after we're done with Ghost of Yotei: Legends.

Fashion Dreamers was a proof of concept IMO, proving that social fashion was fun. I loved getting and giving customizable outfits to other players, and seeing how many people downloaded/liked my one-off pieces was honestly uplifting.

Now, we just need to inject some of that social fashion into Style Savvy. Keep the series' story and store in tact, but let us help other players find the look they're looking for.

It's a shame to see Fashion Dreamers go offline. I was playing daily as recently as last year. It is nice that they'll be giving us basically everything we need to play solo—there just won't be much point.

Please let FD be Style Savvy's Happy Home Designer!

@demacho I don't know that my mildest of takes warranted an @, but I'll respond:
No, but then, I didn't call Japanese a simple language, did I?

Lol no offense, but they're not exactly experts on English. Of course the two languages are very different; translations into and from any language change in the process. But losing ore isn't exactly a huge loss.

I was too tired the day Pokopia came out due to work, so I didn't end up picking it up. Looks like fun. My brother is playing it on the big screen while I continue through Pokemon Fire Red.

Might sneak in a last day of the closing Highguard.

The big game project, if I am up to it, is probably going to be (finally) starting Ghost of Yotei. I won't have much time with it since I'll be gone most of the day.

Reading: Michael Sullivan's Age of Myth.

I remember this one kinda being bad for 4-player since it split up the resource used for... specials? I'm a bit foggy on the details. I didn't care for the game.

My favorites are the DS Mystery Dungeons, Pokemon Battle Trozei, and the Pinballs, I think. I also really enjoyed Channel as a kid, and Rumble was fun enough on Wii. Colisseum and XD, awesome music. Stadium mini-games were a fun time.
Yeah, I like the spinoffs. I miss the spinoffs. I don't want weeklies and dailies and mobile games. I want the real spinoffs, the Snaps and the Pokopias of the world.

I've always used new teams. The only time I return to old favorites is when remakes come out.
I loved when Gen 5 only had the new Pokemon during the course of the standard game. Wild battles were much more exciting (especially in the early routes) because everything was new.
Of course, I still want that post-run Pokedex to be full. And I mean full. Gotta catch 'em all!

Heave Ho 2, baby.

A little Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 on PS4. It's no BO1/2 but for co-op vs bots, it's fine. TTK is way too fast and the abilities are totally unnecessary. We only put like 50 hours into the online MP on release, compared to the hundreds we played of MW2 through BO2. Oh CoD, what happened to you?

Otherwise, a friend got a Switch 2 (her first console ever haha) and so we'll be giving island tours on Animal Crossing New Horizons.

Some Steam Next Fest demos. Some Pokemon FireRed. I did my traditional solo-Brock-with-Kakuna fight last night, based on beating him with Kakuna's Struggle attack in my original run all those years back. This one was caught as a Weedle, so I was able to fish for poison and speed up the fight significantly lol.

Ready to hit that music again, oh yeah. Come and get it, Mirror B!

I'll decide on launch day. Browt is a real one for sure. The others will grow on me, and make the choice agonizing in 2027. As it should be!

"Do you want to use 22 Quick Coupons to meet a new lineup of Pokemon?"

"Time until next no-cost lineup: 21 hours"

Lol. No thanks.

The mobile games are getting a little long in the tooth, which really slows down proceedings.
I'm disappointed that the only retro Pokemon game seemingly on offer this year is going to be Fire Red/Leaf Green. Not that they can't release more, or that it's a bad pick. I just want them ALL.
New game has got me swept up in mixed feelings, as per usual. This'll be the last I let myself see of it until launch, so it's going to be a very long, and likely unsuccessful, year of avoiding spoilers.
Likely I'll have to stay off NintendoLife until 2027's launch just so I don't have to see every single individual Pokemon announced lol

Ey, a fellow Natu lover!

Lovely memories, gang. Thanks so much for sharing.

Reading through, I was reminded about the transition from Elementary to Middle School, when liking Pokemon suddenly got you bullied. We had a friend over to our house to hang out, and I remember him asking shyly, "Do you guys still like Pokemon?" And us trying to be coy, until we realized we all liked Pokemon, and now, over twenty years later, we're messaging each other about the Pokemon Presents.

@HammerGalladeBro Hell Yeah Rusty!
I've got two unopened copies of MP: FF that my brother and I are going to play at some point.
I have mixed feelings on Chibi Robo (sort of fun, RNG was bad, the world/setting should have been more chibi robo and less standard world themes).