aaronsullivan

Splatoon 3 was a big hit for a bit. We are not into Pokemon, but I'm into backlog games and, strangely enough, Uncharted, now.

I'm a die hard Nintendo fan — nothing excites me nice than a new Zelda or Metroid game. Jedi Fallen Order on PS4 Pro really hit all the right notes for me, though. Then, Uncharted with its story, climbing nonsense, and gunning was really a good value at the collector's edition year-old pricing.

Sometimes the graphics power can really make a difference, even if it never makes a bad game good for me. Breath of the Wild is unequivocally beautiful, and I'm not looking for photorealism, but I do enjoy what can be done with the more capable hardware, too.

So, yeah, got an opportunity to make the PS5 a big Xmas surprise for the kids and I took it.

Love my Switch, love Nintendo, but I still want those games on more capable hardware, now. Why wouldn't I?

So, for me, all the new releases are in the category of "if only the next-gen Switch was out, I could see Nintendo's brilliance applied to it."

Which is fine. I didn't have to get a really nice TV or the newest gaming hardware. I did this to myself. But it does make me look at Switch games and hope for new Switch hardware sooner rather than later. Which means I've held out a bit of hope for new Nintendo hardware in early 2022, making 2022 seem like a finale year. Looks like we are not there, yet.

Anyway, articles blaming the games of 2022 on a potential decline of the Switch are just wrong. The games are still rolling in. I think the general feeling is more about the bigger picture.

@Sam_TSM

Sounds like you are disillusioned with the video game scene. Nothing wrong with that (except for the expense! Maybe sell some consoles!) Time for some unsolicited two cents worth of advice!

If you want to keep trying, I'd go looking in the indie space for something that speaks to you, maybe? There is SO much breadth to gaming, now. You might be surprised by some genre that you didn't expect floats your boat, now.

In my experience, people change and what they like/dislike changes faster, and all of it much faster than habits which are slow to change.

I'd even consider scaling back on video games altogether. There are some I really dig, but I get more enjoyment out of table top games lately (also thriving for some years, now). Read a book, find a different pastime for awhile. Yes, then I I'd probably pine for some video game experience, but I might get a clearer idea of what I really want out of it.

Nintendo is in a bind with this next transition. The single platform strategy paid off big time, but part of the success was pinpointing where the rest of the industry was (and wasn't) at the time of launch. Nintendo can't really control that and any attempts to adjust the hardware nimbly to meet a launch window in this ongoing hardware supply chain nightmare are likely going to be futile.

People saying the Switch Pro was not a thing or there was never a plan for this or that... what a waste of energy. Isn't it really that they are caught up in the name and what it has meant from week-to-week or that they don't comprehend research and development and how far ahead plans need to be made for hardware that is meant to launch to millions around the world? If Nintendo is not ALWAYS planning the next hardware, they are in the transition to a software-only company.

To me, it looks like 2023 is probably the best time to strike with new hardware, but also that the needed hardware is not even possible.

Could get dire in a couple years. The decline of the Wii was painfully rapid and the Wii U — well, nobody wants anything like that to happen to Nintendo again (as much as I enjoyed it, Nintendo couldn't go on for long that way).

@sullivans2004 Welcome to Nintendo Life comments. We write essays here. Anti-Matter is not the only one.

If we are not going to get MK 9 yet, this is a great option to keep the fun going on an amazing foundation of a game.

It gives me hope that the next one could be a standout that isn't afraid to take some risks.

What I really want is a complete Diddy Kong Racing experience.

Probably wouldn't go over too well making it into an adventure with unlocking over time, but that was so fun. It would be great to at least have some more interesting modes like the old SEGA All-Stars Racing transformed. Another fun part of DKR was the flying and hovercrafts. And while I'm dreaming, we might as well add jet ski karts that play like Wave Race.

Mario Kart to the Nines!

@Bizzyb I am hoping for a new console to coincide with TotK — doesn't mean I'm expecting it. It's even after the timeframe Nintendo promised there would be no new console.

Scenario could include an early 2023 announcement of new console, show how TotK benefits as launch title (also releasing for current Switch), and show footage of Metroid Prime 4 to highlight the new hardware improvements. It all lines up pretty well.

Heck, there could even be a new Mario game announced. Nintendo did suggest it is worried about launching the next console, so maybe it is adjusting all the anticipated games to hit on it pretty early on? Not to mention a major movie release the month before!

It's so reasonable that I give it as low as a 50% chance, because Nintendo just doesn't play like the others.

Would love Metroid Prime Trilogy or WWHD/TPHD but that has zero to do with Indies and would be a slap in the face to them to include it in this, really. So, I hope Nintendo doesn't do it that way.

Now, Silksong...

But I think that would only get a specific release date announcement at best. Team Cherry already confirmed it won't release until 2023 (before June 2023)

I am curious what the last one will be. Seems natural to end on something surprising or highly anticipated.

Curious about the details. Seems like these are the same as the recent mobile releases. All I’ve read about those is disappointment and problems. Very little good said about them. So, the price is surprising. I’ll be waiting for someone to tell me a bunch of stuff has been fixed and improved before I can care much about this, myself.

@Daggot I remember disliking that limitation back in the day (fortunately didn't use a computer that had it, but the Apple ][ line had its own ugly quirks!)

That said, it doesn't give me any negative vibes, personally. It's mildly nostalgic and stands out among the crowd of indie games, which is pretty hard to accomplish.

This looks pretty great. Color scheme is eye-catching, and it looks like there is room for variation and even key areas where additional colors are used to standout effect. Most importantly the gameplay looks fun and clear. The elements that affect gameplay are all pixel art abstracted and easy to pick out.

Will give this a closer look

@Snatcher Such an interesting genre mashup. Very cool to see things like this materialize — gamers play games for all sorts of different reasons. As the industry matures, there is a mix of developers with more varied tastes, and/or just an approach that can meet some types of gamers that have had less attention.

Or it's just one developer that finally got to make that game they've always wanted to make.

@johnedwin Nintendo Power was basically all advertisements. It was a company sponsored magazine, so it was all self-serving propaganda to get you to buy more of their products.

Not saying it was bad! I loved it!

Love it, so far. Family watched it and laughed and were having fun. Can't wait to see the whole thing.

I get that the voices are different. That happens, and I'm okay with it. It is just weird for a little bit and then I'm guessing most people witll get over it pretty quickly.

Every two random gamers arguing out a top 10 list will have 4 or 5 lists come out of it and virtually no agreements.

Most of us can genuinely add "I like these few games I've played." Yet, so many also like to contribute opinions based on trailers, ads, and opinions of others.

Ultimately, it's fun to discuss this stuff, but reading opinions of people pretending to have experience with games they never played is not really fun. Neither are the opinions of people pretending that all gamers like the same things, or that they even play games for the same reasons.

The problem with big lists like best of 2022 is that they suggest an inclusion of all games (has anyone played them all?) and speak to all types of gamers with all sorts of subjectivity involved. Yet, only discussing objective data like budget vs. earnings, number of bugs, space it takes up, or popularity is about the most boring thing I can imagine.

So... here we are.

So why care about top 10 lists at all? Maybe it's weird, but despite all their failings, I enjoy reading popular lists to celebrate when games I like get recognition, because I selfishly want to make sure more games like it get made.

Love this game, had a long post in the Wii U story. Glad it gets some recognition from time to time because it was dismissed by most at the launch.

I blame the strange and inconsistent theming (and the bad reputation of mini-games from the Wii). The theming was very hard to relate to, at first. “Theme park” but things made out of oversized fabrics and stitching in Zelda Battle Quest, for instance. I mean I grew to enjoy “beating the stuffing” out of bad guys literally, but it took awhile to adjust.

Best local play game I can remember.

Wii U still gets played in our home.

Nintendo Land has a weird theme and is super odd-looking, surely impossible for some people to overcome — it also had the unfortunate feel of a simple mini-game collection which the Wii had turned into a burnt-out genre.

In our home, though, Nintendo Land was played more than any other game in the library — and we bought a lot of Wii U games.

We all enjoyed different games and got good at them, but my young son and I started going for all the badges every morning. Since then, he has gotten us all to play for years — it's optimized playing in groups. It's also way deeper and challenging than it looks. Particularly the Battle Quest and Metroid Blast challenges kept us coming back.

Recently, it got moved to my son's room. He played this 10-year-old system with his friends, who enjoyed the Ghost Mansion, the most, I think.

I could criticize the console and GamePad in many ways — and I have — but, you know, these experiences become something you would never trade. The Wii U, being this perfect storm of couch co-op, made it a shared experience we cherish, not just hardware.

Way late to this conversation. I'll just say that Nintendo does NOT make Metroid games frequently enough for me, BUT it has kept the quality high throughout. Despite some backlash here and there, the quality of the games has remained very solid. Every single game that you've heard is "bad", but didn't give a chance, is likely better than you expect.

Despite its limited financial success, Nintendo has given the franchise a chance, over and over, trying to make it the 3rd pillar next to Mario and Zelda, at least in the US.

Here's hoping Metroid pays off for Nintendo, too, with a one-two punch Dread to Metroid Prime 4.

So glad we got Metroid Dread. Makes me actually prefer that Metroid Prime 4 be released on whatever Nintendo hardware is next.

But... Trilogy remastered on Switch would make the wait much sweeter!

What I love about Shigeru Miyamoto is not that he stumbled into fame with Donkey Kong, but that he took that early success and was introspective and wise enough to keep digging into what made games fun. So many great game design principles that successful developers cling to have roots in his exploration of approaches to game design (part of which is leveraging the skills of colleagues). He's not the only pioneer in game design, of course, but he is one of the greats, when it comes to crystalizing many of the previously intangible aspects of gaming into something knowable and malleable. His contributions in the space are immeasurable.

On top of this, he has chosen to project an attitude of sharing joy and delight as a guidepost for game development.

Happy birthday to a legend that has lived up to the myths better than most.

This is great. I’d love to see video game companies taking charge of maintaining and opening up their own history.

It would be nice if the games themselves were preserved in something like this, as well. Instead, this will be taken down after some time and forgotten like tons of other gaming history.

I love the old games. I'm pleased with how well Nintendo has held on to some key values that continue to generate games with a quirky, fun heart and a commitment to refinement. So, Nintendo's future is still important to my gaming future.

The old games are, frankly, historical. I think Nintendo has a responsibility to help keep them accessible. If the goal is to keep leveraging them as a benefit of owning their latest hardware, Nintendo should always plan to bring as many as old games as possible forward. I think the lack of GameBoy games on their portable system or some other way to play them should be remedied.

Nintendo has another choice, of course. It can release selections of old games in a wider way — smartphones, PC, etc.

I think the most fun is the mini classic consoles. I really love those little things. But that seems like a nightmare in the ongoing manufacturing/distribution crises.

So please release the retro, Nintendo! One place or another! Paid or free. But please don't lock up the history that you still have control over.

@montrayjak Visited the comments to post the same thing! (I didn't know about the confrontation with Atari over it, though.) Now I have to wonder if the person who suggested it, knew about what was done for Yar's Revenge... seems pretty likely, but it's also possible that a similar problem suggested a similar solution naturally.

Looks really solid and the voice acting is solid (though that might be the trailer, only). A little concerned about frame rate hitches even though this is also targeting more powerful consoles... maybe spotty capturing? But the visual design is very appealing to me, and the "feel" of the game play seems fluid and fun from what I can tell just from seeing it in motion.

Also, the trailer is almost all gameplay, with the theme and characters expressed through the audio. This is how I like game trailers to be.

Just had a thought: what will the Nintendo production tag play like? And will there be minions in the Illumination tag or penguins or toads or… all of them plus rabbids.

This should be fun. Even if I don’t love the movie, there’s a good chance a few of the pieces of soundtrack will be great. So far, the movie looks promising to me, too, though!

@rjejr You gave me a good chuckle with your story. Too bad the higher ups didn't find a way to do right by you.

I was going to say more, but I realized how little I could figure out from the known information.

I really feel like this was the only choice.
New mob, but also new seeds and potentially new plants, and there is the egg to hatch, and they can grow very large. And it’s basically a dinosaur.

The others are very simple in comparison. I think the rascal would be fun, but you spot it three times and it gives you a low level pickaxe with an enchantment maybe… nothing new in terms of items/blocks

Tuff golem just randomly parades an item around. Why? I bet I’m missing something, but not much going on there.

Really feels like Mojang wanted the Sniffer and they mentioned that they were really happy that the Allay was chosen, too (to tie in with Legends) so they do have favorites. Which is fine.

I’d rather they do votes more like biomes of past where the vote only determines which is finished first. Add all the mobs next time

Oh, that sucks. Sad for it to come down this way.

@JimNorman I'm pretty sure Kid Icarus and Metroid were also part of the Adventure Series. Edit: They were.

Article about it (from 1987!):
https://www.nintendotimes.com/1987/12/28/1987-the-birth-of-the-adventure-series/

It rightly notes Rygar was first and notes Goonies II, as well.

@victordamazio That tracks for me. It was needed. I love the artwork on the old Atari 2600 games, though. They worked in a way that helped inform what the VERY minimal graphics were trying to convey. Sometimes you need a suggestion what each rectangle is supposed to represent.

I remember the original box art. To my eyes, it has actually aged really, really well. As a kid I always got excited about better and better graphics, but pixel art as an art form has surprised me. I just can't deny that I really enjoy the abstracted nature of it that causes my brain to fill in the missing information. It tickles the imagination a bit more and I guess I don't get tired of that.

So glad someone shared this, I had never seen Legend of Zelda in that form. It was off my radar until the gold box and cartridge which TOTALLY worked and made the game stand out.

I hate how invasive the text and overlays are in the NA/Europe versions, but the Japan cover is just unimportant characters posing. The game could be about almost any sport looking at that one.

(Oh there is that glider in the air I looked right over… are the characters there just to watch?)

It’s funny, because ignorance. I mean… it’s good to remember that Mario is well-known enough that the most casual of gamers can recognize him and know nothing about him — why some of those people feel confident enough to sport a condescending tone, is the less funny part.

Looks great. Do people really want Mario to have a "settled" look? I've been bored with the plastic CG look since they used it AGAIN in Super Mario Bros. U (and it has barely changed in all Mario games since). Until they settled on this look, it was always interesting to see the different takes from generation to generation.

I really, REALLY hoped that the next big Mario game would mix up the visuals more and I'd have expected Mario to have a very new design.

So, I'm kinda disappointed if fans want more of the same and reaction to this incredibly small set of variations for the character in a different medium makes me think we'll be stuck with plastic CG Mario for decades more.

Hopefully it is just typical knee-jerk-reaction-hot-takes that social media has trained the masses to partake in, and nothing with any substance.

Star Fox Zero. Had a great time with my son figuring this out and playing cooperative in it. After giving myself over to it, I really enjoyed the exploration of ways to control flying vehicles. Sometimes you felt like you were in it, or just controlling one part (like aiming/shooting) and others like you were flying it remote and watching from a fun perspective.

To me it seemed like a game trapped in a transition. It started as a last ditch effort to show how the Wii U could offer something different, and while Breath of the Wild took out the gamepad features and landed on Switch, SFZ had its development cut short to get it out the door before the Switch made everyone forget about it.

I think I might play this again with my son, because he has the Wii U set up in his own gaming area now.

I hope Nintendo hasn't given up on Star Fox, too. Maybe when Nintendo finally dives into VR, it will be the perfect excuse... pretty sure your hands will be covered in fuzzy fox fur.

Hesitated for a minute because the NA/EU version was so washed out and lo contrast, but @anti-matter posted a photo and that looks like I remember. Nice and high-contrast. Both are good, but I prefer the action poses from NA/EU to the "just plain poses" from the Japan cover.

Was wondering if anyone would mention the much more interesting Air Twister. Kudos to @SMH88

Yu Suzuki's Air Twister is very, VERY weird and totally worth checking out. Soundtrack is heavy Queen homage, and the visuals seem like some sort of 1960s album art concept of tripping on drugs. It has some touchscreen control concessions, but you can play with a controller, too.

I enjoyed its extreme weirdness (many people will not!), and after going back to play Space Harrier afterwards, Air Twister actually had more interesting gameplay with some added technique — but both are very slight in that category!

Anyone who has Apple Arcade and a memory of Space Harrier or is a fan of Yu Suzuki should give it a go for the "trip" even if you only play through all the stages once.

(There is a game loop where you unlock cosmetics and some ability boosts over time, but you can get most of the game visuals without hooking into that — and, thankfully, Apple Arcade is free of micro-transaction junk)

@Ulysses That sounds like a good bet and I hope you are right!

For those thinking that this Switch has more life in it, you are not wrong. The previous console always does good business for years after the successor launches. It could maybe even go for 4 more years as a lower-cost option, making it a 10-year console. (The red Wii launched in the US about 2 years after the Wii U launched, for instance)

@rjejr It might be PS4 power, but with this chip there are advantages. It should be able to use DLSS 2.2 to up the resolution (render at 1080p like a PS4, but then upscale to 4k beautifully), plus it will have HDR which is also more like the PS4 Pro. The combination of features on this chip could give some surprising performance for a chip clocked like a PS4 and with similar cores as the PS4.

I sure hope so, too.

My television is a nice 4k OLED now. In my book, Nintendo does make games that demand to be played on it with higher fidelity. Zelda and Metroid should have beautiful detailed environments (not "realistic", but enhanced). Colorful games like Splatoon could pop more vibrantly and have a wider depth of contrast, too. I think Pikmin's environments are more fun the more photo real they are —Nintendo thinks so, too, evidenced by the advertising and Pikmin Bloom.

I will admit that Nintendo does an amazing job with the Switch hardware, though. Splatoon 3 looks great, for instance. After 6 years, though, I'm ready for some graphical enhancements in the sequel to Breath of the Wild

@Juno335 Probably has more to do with network performance, though.

There are elements that are strongly reminiscent of Metroid Dread. Mostly the style of the backgrounds and foregrounds and the intro cinematic where the head is clamped and the player character is stabbed. That said, this is clearly a game with plenty to add and differentiate itself.

I would usually expect that anyone that loved Metroid Dread should at least be interested in learning more about the game. Looks impressively executed.

@BloodNinja I agree with your sentiment, but there is an "air dash" in Metroid Dread (flash shift) and it is a huge part of the combat gameplay.

@rjejr Haha. Wow. So, here's what I'm thinking.

Internally "Hey Pikmin" was always Pikmin 4 (or at least in Miyamoto's mind that's how he tracked it). But near the launch they realized... well, that's not going to fly. This game has to be a spin-off title.

Pikmin Bloom ALSO arrived... so maybe Miyamoto had that in mind? Haha.

Either way, I'm just going to accept the Pikmin 4 title for this new game, even if it is the 6th game (we don't count Deluxe right? or "New Play Control! Pikmin" I hope.)

Also...

Pikmin 4 is going to be a launch title for Switch 2, calling it now... along with Metroid Prime 4 ... maybe it will be called Switch 4U.

@AtlanteanMan I remember this feeling from the old personal computer game, Ultima 5. And that game had some significant story events happen when just deciding to "(H)ole up and camp". Shovel Knight stirs up this feeling, as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_X-gFpohsw

Yep, I’ll be using a couple of these. Probably next semester in the design class, though. We are spoiled for videos like this. Others I use are from Extra Credits and there are some newer shorter videos from Game Makers Toolkit that are good (he decided to make games using Unity and we use that in our classes)

Love the hilarious "finally" sentiment from some comments. It has been 7 whole days since release, right? Tough crowd.

My kids were starting to mention the disconnects as a regular thing they were noticing just yesterday just yesterday. Today, it is apparently greatly improved!

We are super-impressed by the waiting room that is active and how well playing with friends now works. It really sucked in Splatoon 2.

@JAGleics Improve the graphics? These are the sharpest, smoothest, impressive graphics I've seen on Switch, and on a twitchy competitive game that needs to maintain a high frame rate, too.

So, whatever it is you are hoping for in that department, you are not likely to get it until new Nintendo hardware is released.

Maybe it's not as good in handheld mode? I haven't played it that way, yet. Was just watching my daughter play on the TV and remarking how impressive it looked, though.

This one looks like a fun game to play. The characters and animations of the actions are just more expressive and engaging than the other farm sims which lately are looking very stale and stiff by comparison. In a game like this, those charming details really make the experience, in my opinion.

@wuntyme8 Diddy Kong Racing sequel is always near the top of my "if only" lists. Would also love to see Kid Icarus sequel, too. You nicely covered all the niche game franchises that don't deserve to be niche.

Just wanted to chime in to say, "please promote games by mostly showing gameplay... please"

I admit I didn't have a huge amount of interest in these games, but I wanted to see if there was something that grabbed me in the gameplay. Skipping through each video, I just couldn't find any gameplay in the first 3 game trailers, and I'm not sure if I saw gameplay in the 4th.

Guess these are just not for me.

@Soylentcuck I don't understand why you limit the "acceptable" reasons to genealogical illnesses, though? Is it such a stretch to include a person's environment, upbringing, financial situation, and personal beliefs into "acceptable" reasons for deciding not to have children?