bubicus

ARCHON III. Make it so.

I support Latin representation in gaming, but they need to work on consistent branding. This article uses "Latino", "Latine", and "Latinx". As others have said (or will say in future posts), "Latinx" is controversial. I personally prefer "Latine" since it more consistent with the Spanish language and rolls off the tongue better.
"Latinx" also encourages some people to use other "-x" terms for ethnic groups, and as a Filipino, I actually despise the term "Filipinx" since it goes into the color-based stereotype of "pinx", and when pronounced a certain way, it also sounds like a certain body part, which also leads to stereotyping.

@Chaotic_Neutral
Just for the record: Nintendo spent $847 million in 2021 and $844 million in 2022 on R&D. That's dozens of magnitudes more than they spent on legal services.

Please correct "A-Trail" to "A-Train"

@AllieKitsune Bub's official YouTube channel still considers the older games canon. They haven't talked about how PBEB connects to the rest of the universe much, but that's probably because they haven't released the game yet, so the story is still unrevealed.

I am kind of looking forward to play PBvSI, but seeing it really makes me wish for a Switch/Steam port of the PS1 version of Pop'n'Pop, since it's a similar game except with more characters and powerups.

I was disappointed. From the headline, I wanted a Brace Yourself Games/Pokemon crossover. Crypt of the Necrogengar or something...

Assault was one of my favorite arcade games, so I will definitely get that! Darius as well.

Richman 11... hmmm. I really liked Richman 4 20 years ago. Richman 10 had bad reviews, though. Has anybody here tried out Richman 11?

I am an actual farmer, and my biggest wish for farming sims is that they would accurately model water management: water collection, direction, and retention. It's one of the most important factors in non-mechanical farming. Using swales, key lines, rain catchment, ponds, terraces, etc. and modeling rainfall and runoff.

Weird factoid: the Puzzle Bobble 3 release means this will be the first appearance of Sonic Blast Man on the Switch, and his first appearance on a Nintendo console in 30 years.

Edit: 28 years. Sorry, @X68000

Double Dash was my favorite because of the co-op and LAN play. We'd get some GCs and some people, randomize teams, and scream at each other for hours.

When my daughter was 5, Puzzle Book kept my kid's attention during her allowed game time until my wife and I eventually taught her how to play Minecraft.

Blazing Beaks was pretty fun and a great deal for under $2. I played it co-op with my friends and my daughter once she turned 7, and we all enjoyed it a lot. I wish it had 4-player co-op, but its 2-player co-op is fine.

Bit.Trip Runner was pretty fun on my Wii, so I assume the Switch port is good.

When I think of Artdink, I don't think of Wonder Boy. I think of A-Train. I had the first one on my Amiga, and Artdink has been making A-Train games for decades now.

Liquid Kids is a great game, but the game is worth buying just for the first world's background music.

@wuntyme8 The best official online Bust-a-Move game was Puzzle Bobble Online, a six-player version from 2002 with really good gameplay that is sadly resigned to the dustbin of forgotten online games because it was not localized. That game needs to be brought back in a global release!

@JayJ PuLiRuLa is possibly the Taito-ist Taito game, although Pop'n'Pop is by design Taito-y (it's basically a Taito all-star game with Space Invaders mechanics, since it was designed by SI's designer).

I have spent hundreds of hours playing Culdcept Revolt with friends and over the Internet. It's probably my most-played 3DS game. I wish they'd release a Switch version.

Sounds like it was possibly inspired by the popular Japanese book Miracles of the Namiya Store, which was about three teens in the present who reply to letters sent in the '80s. (Except the replies go 32 years into the past, not 33 years.)

Do none of you understand the hidden code?! The next fighter is PSY. Smash Bros Gangnam style!

Reggie Fils-Aime. My body is ready.

I wonder how many of the Qix fans on NL who have been asking for an Arcade Archives release will quietly buy Pretty Girls Panic...

I have enjoyed the King's Bounty series since the original one last century, so I am looking forward to King's Bounty II. I also enjoyed Thea a lot, so I am looking forward to Thea 2.

However, this is where the Steam Deck starts looking mighty appealing. I can buy KBII and Thea II now on Steam, then play them portably in the future along with the rest of my Steam library. The announcement of the Steam Deck really makes me think twice about buying non-exclusives for the Switch now.

There are three reasons I will pick up a Steam Deck: 1) it has amazing performance for a low-power device, 2) it can run non-Steam games like from GOG, and 3) it can run emulators.

I am off-grid often, so being able to charge a gaming device off a portable solar panel is huge for me. My current RTX 3060 gaming laptop maxes out at 190W power draw, it lasts less than an hour on battery when playing high-power games, and takes hours or days to fully charge. The Steam Deck's 40Wh battery should charge in an hour in full sunlight with a 60-75W solar panel, and they say it lasts 7-8 hours on a full charge with less demanding games (and I play lower-power games like the type available on GOG), and I assume emulated arcade or 8/16-bit games would also use less power.

I am pretty happy about the final list, except... Pop'n'Pop is missing! It was basically Taito's Smash Bros. in the way it combined all of their stars into a puzzle game with Space Invaders-style gameplay. Since it features all of their major characters, and since it runs on the same hardware as other games on the list (as does Cleopatra Fortune), I don't understand why it is not included.

I am surprised they left off Bubble Memories! They included Bubble Symphony and Elevator Action Returns, and they all use the same hardware (F3 cartridges).

This article brings back some weird nostalgia. When Sakura Wars GBC came out, I was working on Pokemon marketing as a subcontractor while also running a popular Sakura Wars fan site. That meant that I was walking miles and miles wearing both a Pocket Pikachu 2 and a Pocket Sakura.

Pocket Sakura was much more engaging than Pocket Pikachu 2. There was a map of Teito, and you could choose your next destination after walking the required number of steps. You could meet other characters while traveling and collect items based on the location you visited. I seem to remember that if you actually visit all of the places (requiring several hundred thousand steps), you unlock a world map and you can even travel to Paris and meet the Paris Kagekidan!

I swear I wrote a FAQ for Pocket Sakura, but I can't seem to find it... 😟

@LArachelDisciple There are two GBC games, actually! The other one is called Sakura Wars 2: Operation Thunderbolt. There is also a DS game using the Mysterious Dungeon engine.

You missed RWBY: Grimm Eclipse Definitive Edition last week and again this week...

I live in the tropics. I keep the giant spiders alive because otherwise the house would overflow with giant cockroaches.

I wish it was based on the pre-Faust DC Super Hero Girls. That series had better characters, better humor, better examples of dealing with issues, and it had the fresh idea of putting a bunch of popular villains in the role of heroes. The new series feels like a cross between DCSHS and MLP, and the characters are crass, rude, simplistic, and non-charismatic.

This game is so good! I spent a "mere" 85 hours in it on Steam, but I will also double-dip. I have been waiting for a Switch version ever since I played the PC version.

@Tantani, name one billionaire short seller who has created or invented anything people use or possess in their daily lives other than misery and unemployment.

I don't think Sarah Conner can fight a Terminator. Maybe a fighting-mad Roseanne Conner. Or maybe Sarah Connor.

Sarah Conner = supporting character in the TV show "Roseanne"
Sarah Connor = bad-ass Terminator terminator

On a more serious note, Wrestling Empire looks bad but it has good reviews, so wrestling fans should read some of those.

Maybe saying the name three times will help.

TURRICAN TURRICAN TURRICAN

Hopefully we won't just end up with Michael Keaton in power armor.

WHERE-COME IS TURRICAN?! HAAA HA HA HA...

I picked up Fairyland Story right away. It's one of my favorite Taito games. Its historical value as a precursor to Bubble Bobble is also important.

I really enjoyed Bomber Crew, so I am getting Space Crew. Arabian, too. Dustoff Z seems fun, too, since I enjoyed Choplifter.

Geez, I played this a lot at Chuck E. Cheese in 1983-1984 when the lines for Mario Bros. were too long. I'm definitely getting this.

Eventually, I would like Hamster to tackle the F3 hardware so we could get Bubble Symphony, Elevator Action Returns, Pop'n'Pop, Bubble Memories, Psychic Force 2012, Bust-a-Move 4, etc.

I'm looking forward to Fairyland Story, Liquid Kids, Rodland, and Arabian.

I have an interesting use case for one of these, which is why I have been researching them lately. I may be about to move somewhere with no electricity, but I still want to play games. These monitors do not require much power, so I can run a Switch (or a Raspberry Pi for media or emulation) and one of these monitors using a dedicated, low-cost, off-grid solar setup.

Also, I think the game will be popular on YouTube and Twitch because people are going to go bonkers with track decorations. Imagine Jelle's Marble Run-style presentation with this game. Some people might even sell advertising on the track walls.

60 comments so far, and nobody has pointed out that you DON'T need a house or a big floor for this game.

• driveway
• cul-de-sac
• parking lot
• open street (talk about track hazards!)
• school gym (or adult gym, when they reopen)
• playground

I can even imagine packing dirt and making Excitebite-style motocross tracks with bumps and banks. The karts would probably need extra maintenance afterward from the dirt, but it should work.

When I recently ported a Unity game from PC to Switch, PS4, and XB1, it took a lot of time to find and fix some performance issues, but none of the work was actually very difficult. Given the high number of Unity games on Switch and other platforms that do not (or no longer) cause overheating or have a lot of crashes, I think the developer would be more credible to simply say: "As for the crashes/ overheating. That would be because the game is made by many people working on their first game... it's not the best product." It's not fair to blame the development platform for developers' mistakes.

Culdcept Revolt is an excellent game and one of my all-time favorites on the 3DS.

Great game! I put at least 75 hours into the PC version. I was a big fan of the classic 8-bit tactical RPG series "Wizard's Crown" because of its simulation of shield facings, ballistics, and looting, and Battle Brothers had similar gameplay.