anynamereally

So... the average game that have potential gets 'average' score, but Nintendo 1st party average games still get 7 or 8/10 no matter how average they really are.
Okay.

I couldn't care less. I just use original JP voices.

I already have GetsuFumaDen on PC so aside from that nothing really catches my interest here.

Having first played this just recently my initial thoughts is that DK64 has a much more interesting and moody atmosphere, has more character to it in the result, and more importantly has better and more intricate level design.
Banjo has a more lighthearted feel to it, especially considering the collectables, and it's preferable for some, of course, but I don't think that makes Banjo 10/10 and DK64 7/10.
I'd give Banjo 8/10 and DK64 - 9/10 personally.

upd. forgot to mention quite unresponsive and sluggish controls, esp. in underwater sections, collecting anything underwater is just not fun. with slow moving camera exacerbating the problem.
and another thing that I noticed is that some collectables, like notes for example, drops down to zero if you loose all your health during current stage... which makes your whole playthrough of it kinda useless and then you have to collect them all over again. frankly this is just a waste of time. I probably better go back to playing DK64 instead, making progress there feels much less fragile.

no way this should cost $40.
prices for new shoot'em ups these days are so inflated, it's unbelievable.

Speaking of review...
Considering that Cotton Reboot got 8/10 from NL, and as it seems all other things being equal, Cotton Fantasy totaly deserves 8.5 or 9/10 just because now it is a completely new game, not a remake.

@DashKappei
>the dumpster fire that were the 2 Saturn Tribute Cottons and Guardian Force, 45€ down the drain there…

patch for input lag issues is expected sooner or later so I guess it's not a total waste for you.
I myself am waiting for PC release with said patch included right from the start and with a more reasonable price as well.

>Composed of ex-Compile staff (Aleste) they released five shoot-em-up (or ‘shmup’) arcade titles...

Hmmm, I don't really think that people from Milestone has anything to do with rich shmup legacy of Compile.

I mean those people that made shooters like Aleste, Blazing Lasers, MUSHA, etc. as part of Compile back in 80s and 90s they actually left the company in mid 90s and founded Raizing. So that's a different batch.

And speaking of people that founded Milestone they joined Compile somewhere in the mid 90s with a dream to develop shmups, but since the company was already in the phase of transforming itself to incorporate all other different genres, those fresh people that joined them didn’t really have a chance to fulfil their dreams. So they left Compile somewhere in early '00s.

I actually like cell-shaded visuals here, it's not common for the genre.
But aside from that it looks like a game one could get and enjoy on one of those eshop sales.
OR if it ever comes out on PC I could probably get it there instead.

This game is awesome.
It has a coat of polish that Nintendo games often have and it feels like a mix of Smash Bros and Warioware in its heart but brought into a scrolling shooter genre.

Normally you'd think that borrowing different characters from other old (and mostly forgotten) games and bring them all in one place will be the only selling point of this game, but apparently it's not just that. Game mechanics, distinct ship styles and addicting scoring system makes it pretty deep and entertaining shooter even by today standards.

Game museum with in-game screenshots, print art and commentary is a welcoming touch and makes you appreciate all of these characters of bygone era.

I wish we had more unique releases like this. Personally I'd give it a 9/10, the only downside being is the lack of TATE mode for the new Arcade mode+ (which has online leaderboards and additional DLC ships).

not a bad year for 1st party, but still not good enough if we're talking about Nintendo. they can do much better than that. 5/10.

seems like a cool game, but it doesn't look deep mechanic-wise, does it?
is it really hard to beat it on highest difficulty? is it fun to try and acquire higher scores? why player feels encouraged to return to it again and again?
the article doesn't quite go into details about all of this.

Seems like it slipped over its 2021 release date.

I don't know... I'd probably get Sin and Punishment, but maybe not. I already have it in physical and digital forms, so not a big deal.

The rest of the list could stay there on the Wii.

Nintendo better stick to developing new games rather than pumping out those ports over and over again. It has to stop somewhere.

@Zag_Man
>The focused development has led to some of the very best games ever from Nintendo.

W-where do you get that from? I mean there are certainly some highlights in Switch library like Odyssey, Xenoblade 2, Smash Bros and BotW (though it was more of a Wii U game quickly ported to Switch, but anyway), but other than that the rest of their output in current generation is pretty average by Nintendo standards.

@Dazzle
>Just too bad Nintendo didn’t emulate them very well.

emulation is absolutely fine on this one. there're no glaring issues I am aware of.
if you criticize then be kind to provide what is actually wrong with it.

@Snatcher
>Oh my god I thought you were going to spoil me for a sec.

spoiling 2006 game in 2021, no less!

for those that didn't finish Okami - the final boss in this game is awesome, totally made in Platinum style (even before Platinum became a thing) and the one you wouldn't expect in Okami game.
So stop whining and go play it XD

this poll lacks an option - I own the game, but I won't play the expansion even though I payed for it through NSO subscription XD

@BrazillianCara
>So would it take a score of 11 or 12 to make a game above 8?

7 is legit score for a good game one can enjoy. it doesn't need to be always 8 or higher.
7 is an average game that did most of the things right, it's just didn't add anything new. it didn't impress the player with something outstanding or unique enough to be a memorable experience.

@BongoBongo Well, maybe other outlets gave it a higher score I'm not really bothered with checking them out because I'm saying it from my point of view as an experienced SMT player. If you never played SMT before go get it, it's a good game, no arguing here.

I've played some of them so I have a good understanding of this series and this particular entry doesn't look interesting enough for people like me who already played more than a couple of SMT entries.
Mechanically I'm pretty sure it's an upgrade from earlier SMTs, as all of its systems were modernized and smoothed out so not to scare off contemporary player, but the world itself, the setting they made here is all subpar looking if you compare it to Strange Journey or if you look at what made Soul Hackers so special.

9/10 from NL makes it 7/10 for regular review. So all in all - a decent RPG, just nothing groundbreaking.

If someone never tried SMT series before then this entry is definitely should be their first one, as it's polished enough and contains all the QoL improvements for an old SMT formula.

@jojobar
>2022 is going to be a very strong year... even if there is not much more from nintendeo than what we know already, it would be a good year

well, you can say it about every upcoming year.

@twztid13 you can easily buy it on Wii U VC, btw.

@TheBigK not really true. the controls for a regular gamepad are simple: you move with a D-pad, aim with right analog stick, fire with ZR, jump with L (or Up button on D-pad as an alternative way).

But I don't recommend to play it on Switch in handheld mode due to terrible ergonomics not really suited for this kind of grip. Play with a Pro or N64 gamepad.

Game's a blast to play. But I discovered just one downside - you can't really beat the final boss with regular gamepad controls, so aiming with a Wiimote pointer is the only way to do that unfortunately.

Well, yeah, I generally dislike the term 'boomer shooter' since it's very innaccurate way to distinguish 'retro' from 'modern' games (as it's always a slipping line between the two) and more often than not is used in elitist/passive-aggressive kind of talk.

We don't really call Life is Strange as a 'zoomer adventure game', do we?

To my surprise this the only time that I remember NL score being pretty accurate and doesn't need any additional 'in mind' subtractions (like -1 or -2). Truly 6/10 is a spot on for Yoshi's Story.

The only true achievement for SF64 is getting star fox into full 3D. But aside from that it's just too plain and simple, it doesn't add anything substiantially new to the existing formula.

SF2 and SF Zero on the other hand are much better designed games with some fresh ideas thrown into a regular SF routine.

But somehow SF64 is regarded as a pinnacle of the series while SF2 was instantly labeled as 'outdated', and Zero straight up ignored by many solely because of control scheme.

@Gamepro500 absolutely.

I think Zelda 2 is totally fine as it is, it doesn't really require any kind of 'hacking' or improving. It's totally playable today and is brilliant in its design.
But I'm glad that Zelda 2 is getting more and more recognition these days even through such fan conversions.

these screenshots don't look 'remastered' to me. this is basically how it looked like on PC back then.

Love these early 3DS titles.

But those new cards will they be compatible with AC: Amiibo Festival island mini game where you gather food and survive in the wilderness?

looks promising. reminds me of getsufumaden with a similar setting.

as usual nothing for me this week on the eshop. but will probably get Metroid Dread physical somewhere down the road.

@Rin-go my comments are there, I just don't see any conspiracy behind any of them. If you see it then that's probably something on your side, pal.

@Rin-go I'm not a conspiracy theorist, though.

@chipia yeah, totally.
I substract 1 or 2 from NL review scores on a daily basis (lol), and frankly I think it's not that big of a deal. We all know NL is a bit biased, but not that much, it's okay.

But with that AC:NH review I had to substract 3 points from it to make it a bit "down to earth" objective score the game really deserves.

Now any 10/10s from NL make me suspicious and makes me think that reviewer either didn't gave a game enough attention or was just blinded by the "new shiny thing"... OLED in this case, I suppose

One thing that people who review games must do right away before writing a review is to go and actually finish the game and only then give it a proper score.

Because we all know that the game could be amazing at its first 5-10 hours, but right after initial freshness and wow factor wears off - not many games keep their momentum and quickly lose their charm.

So all in all putting enough hours before judging it or finishing the game in case its rather short is a MUST for reviewer.

P.S. yes, I'm looking at that glorious 10/10 AC:New Horizons review score which is so misleading.

article doesn't mention the possibility of burn-ins on the screen. it's like OLED is all around win and doesn't have any downsides to it.

Not really impressed. I was expecting more from the dev team. It's a new setting for sure, but overall structure seems to be unchanged.

jeeeesuz, just release every major game you have, Treasure, and it would sell decent enough to fund your next projects.
people are starving for more presence of Treasure in this barren industry.

@Gryffin
>But knowing what I do about it, and what I've seen of 3, the game is getting too complex. For those who have played both 1 and 2, what is your opinion?

The forums here on NL is probably a better place for this question, and I kinda find it interesting enough to build a discussion around.

I myself find S2 as a more polished version of S1. S1 is a bit rough on the edges after S2, but both still loads of fun if you're into competitive online. I'm not that much into competitive scene, but I still enjoyed them a lot <scratch> and had to go to rehab to break out of addiction</scratch> XD

Looking at that fresh trailer, yeah, it is getting more and more complex with each installment, but I think they could still make it easily accessible for newcomers.
The real problem I see here is that S3 really looks too similar to S2 (which on its on right was too similar to S1, just with a nicer coat and streamlined maps). That's what I see so far. You know Splatoon is a great series, awesome fresh IP, but it gets too samey, too iterative.

@Moistnado you could have bought Splatoon 1 as well and gather x3 layers of dust XD

@Stocksy I came to believe that "doing bare minimum" is the new slogan for N. this generation XD

@HamatoYoshi
> next year is already shaping up to be a great year for Nintendo.

it seems to me like we keep saying the very same words about each upcoming year. but you couldn't say it about current year though, like, it is always the next year XD

Looks promising, and it's the only new previously unannounced game that we saw in the whole Direct.

@VoidofLight yeah, but it's not just the lack of content that brings this entry down, it's the way they handled the item distribution.

I already wrote about it somewhere around here, but I guess it doesn't hurt to repeat it again.
The problem is that in order to expand your "items rotation bubble" you're living through every day in NH you have to go out and connect either online or in local play to share stuff with other players, and there's no other way to expand your artifically limited pool of items. It's limited by devs intentionally.

Which basically means that if you're mostly playing solo you're out of luck. You're gonna be in the same circle of items each and every day no matter what you do, it's your pool of things you're "allowed" to have access to. Be sure to have fun with that So at some moment in your playtime the game just stops on giving you back something new and interesting, something that gives an intention to return to it every day and spend more hours on it. You keep investing time into it, but it doesn't reward you anymore.

In contrast in previous AC entries you were able to presumably find anything the game has to offer just by persistently playing every day, looking for new items and discovering something you never knew had existed. It was all possible playing solo. Of course, you could have sped it all up by connecting with a friend, but it was your choice to begin with.
Unfortunately in NH devs made that decision for you.

Looks like more of the same just with a different flavour.

I thought they'd do a fully fledged single player campaign this time around, as they had much more resources and time on their hands after "rushed" Splatoon 2... but nope, not the case here, it's the same mission based design with 1 hub and 5-10 hours of gameplay to warm you up before online matches.
Sadly, I'll most probably pass on Splatoon 3.